Three Power Pole Fires Leave Over 100 Casper Residents, Businesses Without Power
Over 100 Casper residents and businesses were left without power Friday afternoon after three power poles caught reportedly caught fire.
Paul Murphy, spokesman for Rocky Mountain Power, described all three incidents as "pole fires."
Murphy says one fire in the area of Jim Bridger and CY Avenue left 10 customers without power, another on Poplar left 128 without power and one more damaged pole on Durbin left one person in the dark.
Repair crews are either on the scene or en route to each location. No injuries have been reported as a direct result of any outage.
Sgt. Zack Winter of the Casper Police Department says the outage near the Loaf N Jug at CY Avenue and Jim Bridger Avenue was reported at roughly 3 p.m. as both a 'possible lightning strike' and a 'shots fired' call.
Casper residents took to social media, saying they heard a loud bang before power went out.
There was no evidence of a lightning strike, Winter said, but it was clear that the transformer had blown up. The top of the pole could be seen dangling by the remaining power lines.
"The power line was actually down, so we ensure the public stays away from the power line until the company comes out," Winter said.
That power line has been removed from the ground, Winter added.
Murphy says the weather likely played a role in each outage.
"Whenever you have moisture, that can cause an electricity line to arc. When it arcs, the pole catches fire and we send crews to replace that pole."
"Unfortunately, it's pretty common," Murphy added.