Power Poles on Fire in Texas

if it were meteor fragments we would see other cases of the same kinda thing, they wouldnt *only* cause this to happen to power poles...


As for EMP - what about all the more sensitive electronic devices in range?

A yearlong experiment with America's electric grid could mess up traffic lights, security systems and some computers - and make plug-in clocks and appliances like programmable coffeemakers run up to 20 minutes fast.

"A lot of people are going to have things break and they're not going to know why,"

www.cbsnews.com...

www.jimstonefreelance.com...

I always look for ways the Gov can mess stuff up first before I blame physics,nature or dust.

just some more info from 1985 to make you want to put on a tin foil hat:

Originally posted by cartesia
if it were meteor fragments we would see other cases of the same kinda thing, they wouldnt *only* cause this to happen to power poles...


As for EMP - what about all the more sensitive electronic devices in range?

It depends on how the EMP is delivered. One of the early atmospheric A bomb tests on a Pacific island actually knocked out power in parts of the Hawaiian islands without doing other damage. So a lower level but wide spread EMP could affect the power lines without hitting smaller localized equipment. So could highly focused EMP waves directed at just the power poles and transformers. When the experts talk about EMP attacks that wipe out the whole nation from something like a nuke they are looking at enough non directed power to fry anything in range, but lower level or highly focused EMPs as mentioned above could cause the localized fires without having the same effect as the nuke generated EMP. The lower level EMP would fry just the power lines because they are like long antennas that can pick up and amplify the effect of the EMP focusing it at weak points like transformers.

reply to post by happykat39


Ok, more mind control crap here......turn it all off! I am particularly intrigued by the various news reporters having strange attacks of very distorted and slurred speech............ sci-fi nonsense? I WISH!

reply to post by happykat39


Are you suggesting that somewhere in east Texas, someone has built a shade tree explosive pumped capacitor devise?
Ooooh, now I have a unholy desire to give that a try. Other than my total lack of electroinic ability, and acute shortage of handy explosives....

I can't even build a Chinese lantern.

Very Good find! More people should read this and be aware of it. The second link from jim stone has great details and straight up answers in it.

Originally posted by ohioriver
A yearlong experiment with America's electric grid could mess up traffic lights, security systems and some computers - and make plug-in clocks and appliances like programmable coffeemakers run up to 20 minutes fast.

"A lot of people are going to have things break and they're not going to know why,"

www.cbsnews.com...

www.jimstonefreelance.com...

I always look for ways the Gov can mess stuff up first before I blame physics,nature or dust.

I lived on South Padre Island for many years, and I remember seeing something for the first time when I moved there. Once a month or so, Public works would drive a "firetruck" down Padre Blvd and spray off the tops of the poles. It seems that on the coast, the dew is salty. And over time the layers of salt would build up enough to allow arcing. You could actually see the arcs trying to make it across the ceramic insulators at night, and I did actually see the top of a pole on fire once... These things CAN happen... But multiple pole fires, all at once, way inland. That's just weird!

Originally posted by deadeyedick
Lightning could do this in a hot dry environment.
I have seen powerlines get hit before. It caused a blue fireball to travel the line.

Lightning was my initial thought too.

reply to post by schmae


MY THEORY:

Maybe they're catching on fire because there's a surplus of electricity in the grid due to home foreclosures and thus, consumer household usage decreases, resulting in a lot of electricity with no where to go.

This is based solely on your first post (sorry I didn't read the links), and the fact that earlier today I was thinking to myself:

What would happen if a lot of people started living off the grid and the electricity had no where to go?

Think about it: x number of nuclear, wind, solar, hydro, and coal firing power plants; running 24/7; outputting enormous amounts - watts, volts; I don't know, I'm not an expert - of electricity which is dependent on loads that are usually in constant use

If that's how it all works. Maybe someone here who's more knowledgeable in electrical engineering can set the record straight.

A little bit of new info that might suggest the 'fog' theory is true.
A friend right now travelling through south texas said at 4 am
the fog was too thick to see. This is a little bit closer to the coast
than the Hill country but it's interesting there is thick fog that long
before dawn. More hmmmmmm

And now for something ...........completely different.

FOX 4 News
Taking a lot of calls from people claiming that people are pulling over on the road to watch a meteor streak across the sky this morning...

www.facebook.com...

Related?

Originally posted by Bspiracy
it was a power POLE.. not poles and the pics showed a smoking converter box.
The link says it's all fixed and re-opened.
Why was this posted?

b

did you even read the post? jeez

for transformers to blow it would have to be a power surge. fog nor dust will cause such an event, unless the dust on top of the transformer caps was 8-12 inches thick. also dust will not over heat a transformer unless again it coated the entire exterior with several inches of dust and not just the top cap.

the exterior of transformers are steel and if fog was a possibility they would have shorted long ago except of course if said dust was many inches thick, enough to reach the hot legs which sit up to 12 inches from the transformer case.

was the dust caked on these transformers that thick? i find that highly unlikely.

sounds more like the electric company having a large problem with a large surge and not wanting to admit it.

I have been following this story with some interest since yesterday morning. While it does seem to include some aspects of the Carrington Event, a check of the solar data shows no corresponding peak in activity.

Notwithstanding the official "dust" theory, it would appear that some sort of induced current/voltage is at the heart of these events occuring in numerous counties simultaneously. I say "current/voltage" because of reports that only "some" of the pole fires involved a transformer. An induced current would be expected to overload transformers causing them to catch fire - however an overcurrent alone would not be expected to set fire to poles which did not have a transformer. An induced voltage, on the other hand, could indeed cause arcing at the point of minimum proxmity of the wires such as at a pole thus igniting the pole itself without the need for a transformer fire. An electric service outage map published yesterday on another website seems to show the reported outages to be primarily along the Ft.Worth - Waco - Austin corridor.

Further investigation would require data that are not readily available. Specifically a detailed map of the location of each of the pole fires. Because the events occured across county jurisdictional lines and included numerous fire departments integrated data will be difficult or impossible to acquire, at least from outside of state and/or federal agencies. If anyone has contacts within the Texas DPS or even the federal fusion center it might be worth while to suggest that they correlate these data.

Secondly, a detailed schematic diagram of how these disparate county power lines interconnect would be most helpful. The existance of substations (or their lack) between the effected lines might very well indicate the path of the suspected induced current/voltage. This information would be most easily obtained from the power companies involved but for security purposes such a diagram is probably not in the public domain.

Having ruled out the sun as a possible source of the induction, we are left with a limited number of possibilities. While a "homebrew" EMP device is unlikely it cannot be absolutely ruled out. Another possibility would be a very large magnetic anomaly with sufficient flux density to induce the required current/voltage.

All in all, a very interesting mystery and one which bears watching in the days ahead.

This is not a routine occurrence but it is not rare either.

While it is routine maintenance, at least around here, to wash sub-station equipment to remove accumulated dust to prevent these type of shorts and/or fires it is usually not done to the transformers or insulators on poles. If these events continue the electrical company may hire a contractor to power wash the transformers and insulators on the poles but not likely because replacing a few poles would be cheaper. The cost of a pole transformer, pole, insulators and labor is miniscule compared to a sub-station equipment.

If it hasn't rained in a while you can go out before dawn after a foggy night and may see insulators arcing in the dark.

You can search for examples of a companies that do this. "Live Line insulator washing of overhead power lines and substations". There are probably videos also.

reply to post by Bramble Iceshimmer

This is extremely rare and involves multiple poles.
Otherwise every metal power pole could short out and kill anyone who touches it.
What about powerlines down dirt roads?

Ok, add in this news story, if you want. At 6:45 am (CST) this morning (Friday, Dec. 7th)

Southeast Texans report strange light in the sky

Source : abclocal.go.com.../local&id=8911834

Just a coincidence to the "electrical poles" news, just a meteorite, or something more?

This morning around 6:45am, there was some type of streak of light and a flash up in the sky

. People from all around Houston and it's far-most surroudning areas saw it.

"It flashed from red to green then disappeared; maybe a meteor from the Geminds?" speculated one of our Facebook users. "They usually start in December." " I live in Cypress and was dropping off my son at school around 6:40 am this morning," added another. "It was bright like greenish, yellowish."

I saw it this morning in Magnolia. It was really bright and there was a smoke streak after it happened

, reports one viewer.

People all over Houston are reporting seeing something in the sky this morning, a bright green light and then an explosion of colors

. This was sourced from www.chron.com... (the Houston Newspaper).

I was on I10 west bound somewhere between the state line and Beaumont. Saw a brilliant blue-green flash and trail of white. Appearred about 45-60 degrees above the horizon moving from NE to SW. Awesome sight to behold!

says another witness.

My husband was at the bus stop with neighbor and kids around 6:45 – they all saw a bright streak, then a bright “explosion” then a series of colors then it disappeared.

, another commenter says from the Newspaper article.

Another viewer thought

Saw it this morning in Galleria area. Looked like a piece of space junk re-entering. Pretty spectacular

Two other viewers didn't think it looked like a meteor

I saw the very bright lights this morning! I don’t know what it was but I don’t think it was a meteor. I heard from a friend in the Austin area on Facebook, he saw the lights there too. Weird but really cool.

Definitely saw it at 6:45 AM in the Dallas area. The first thing I did when I got work was check for reports of a plane going down.. it was that bright and fairly slow moving compared to a typically meteor. Fog and clouds obscured it, so you couldn’t really see what was causing the light.

It's rare but it does happen when conditions are just right for it on HV distribution feeders (11kV or thereabouts).

I'm in the energy business and I've seen this happen on several occasions when there's been a long dusty dry spell broken by some very fine misty rain IE not enough water to wash the insulators clean but just enough to form a dirty conductive emulsion on the insulators. Moisture in the crossarm and the wood pole itself allows current to flow through the timber to ground which gets hot enough to start burning, the carbon left behind allowing even more current flows causing more heating and so on until the pole is fully alight. When the earth fault current gets high enough for the protection to trip the feeder the pole is doomed and will burn to the ground leaving nothing but a stump and the conductors hanging dangerously low. I've seen metal crossarms and braces with the conductors still attached hanging over the remains of the poles they used to be mounted on.

Maybe a electric surge ?