[ back ]
Buildings evacuated after truck yanks down wires
(by Joan Demirjian - May 04, 2011)
Buildings evacuated after truck yanks down wires
By JOAN DEMIRJIAN
Employees and customers at stores and offices were evacuated last week at a shopping center on East Washington Street in Bainbridge after electrical wires and transformers were pulled down by a truck.
Knowles Plaza West is at the southeast corner of East Washington Street and West Park Circle Drive.
Bainbridge Fire Department personnel went through the buildings, including nine retail sites and 14 offices, as well as an adjacent building to the south, asking people to evacuate.
There were people eating breakfast in the Washington Diner, and office workers were on the second floor. Owners and their dogs left the Pet Parlor in the shopping strip.
Assistant Fire Chief William Lovell, first on the scene April 29, said a delivery truck in the back parking lot snagged a wire, causing damage to four utility poles, shared by Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. and Windstream. Several electrical transformers were damaged and leaking fluids.
A pole came down on the delivery truck, hitting it between the driver's cab and the trailer, missing the driver, who was trapped in the truck because of the live wires draped over the vehicle, Mr. Lovell said.
The driver was unharmed but spent about 40 minutes in the truck, before CEI turned off the power.
Recent high winds are believed to have caused a wire to hang low at the back of the building, and that wire caught on the truck, Mr. Lovell said.
Someone called from the building to report that a truck hit wires and poles were down and the transformers were sparking.
"We had to evacuate the building because the lines were still energized and there was the possibility of a potential fire," Mr. Lovell said.
Approximately 60 people left the two-story building. Employees in another structure to the south were asked to remain inside their building until CEI turned off the power.
"We didn't want to take any chances and wanted to ensure the safety of the people inside the buildings," Mr. Lovell said.
A CEI employee on the scene estimated the voltage of the wires went up to 13,200.
As a result of power surges, there was report of smoke in a medical building at the southwest corner of the intersection, Mr. Lovell said.
The Southeast Regional Hazardous Materials team was on the scene to control possible spills of fluid from the transformers.
Departments from Oakwood Village, Bedford, Bedford Heights, Maple Heights, Garfield Heights, Chagrin Falls and Solon were on the scene.
Mr. Lovell said the department has dealt with many downed electrical wires recently because of high winds. "But this is significant," he said.
Wayne Burge, assistant Bainbridge fire chief who was in charge at the scene, said the department worked with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
"The call came in at 9:48 a.m.," he said. "We called CEI right away, and someone from the company was already there. He was driving by and saw the truck entangled in the wires," Mr. Burge said.
Wires fell on cars parked in the lot. "Luckily no one was walking in the parking lot when the wires came down," he said.
Some of the liquid, which is a vegetable oil from the transformers, got into a storm sewer and ran into a stream off East Washington Street. The stream runs to the McFarland Waste Water Treatment Plant on Chagrin River Road.
After walking upstream, Mr. Burge found nonhazardous materials stopped by a branch across the stream. It was removed with a vacuum truck, he said.
Generators were used to keep freezers and refrigerators on at Zeppe's Pizza and at the diner until power was restored on Sunday.
[ back ]
