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A falling tree apparently knocked a power line onto an occupied vehicle in Hawaiian Beaches, resulting in a fire that killed a woman and injured a man:
https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2021/10/13...sing-fire/
This tragic incident is a clear indication of just how dangerous the overhanging rain forest vegetation can be when it comes to power lines. Hopefully, this may (or may not) spur HELCO to do a better job of policing the lines. I have witnessed a HELCO repair crew that came out to clear felled trees and restore lines who left a tottering tree directly overhanging the line they just replaced. When neighbors and I pointed out that they were leaving a problem, we were told, "Our job is to get your power back on as quickly as possible. Someone else will come and take care of this." Two months later, the tree fell and they got to replace that stretch of line a second time.
Sorry about the rant, but the fatality is just too much.
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They need to get rid of Asplundh.
Puna: Our roosters crow first!
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Asplundh got special consideration from Planning because they hold the "emergency trimming support" contract from HELCO.
If I recall correctly it was an SUP for an equipment baseyard in an "ag-zoned" subdivision.
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"Our job is to get your power back on as quickly as possible. Someone else will come and take care of this."
This is true even on the mainland. The linemen just repair the broken lines. They don't trim trees.
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The fault doesn't belong to Ass-plunge. It's HELCO's fault. Not being proactive enough to oversee the contractors they hire.
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(10-14-2021, 12:05 PM)Obie Wrote: "Our job is to get your power back on as quickly as possible. Someone else will come and take care of this."
This is true even on the mainland. The linemen just repair the broken lines. They don't trim trees.
In the case I witnessed, the same HELCO guys removed the fallen tree from the lines and then repaired them. That's why we mentioned the other tree. To be honest, I saw one other incident in which HELCO brought in an separate tree removal crew before they even started work on the lines. The bottom line is that they left a known and obviously dangerous situation in place for two months, resulting in another outage and expensive repair. You don't have to look very far to see that HELCO does a sorry job protecting their assets from tree falls.
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Not being proactive enough to oversee the contractors they hire.
It's the "emergency principle" at work: being proactive incurs liability at some monetary cost. Responding to an emergency waives liability and allows the costs to be passed along. Nobody wants to pay for things that "never happen"; everyone is happy to pay to solve real problems that we definitely have right now (look, there, you can see it happening).
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(10-14-2021, 03:17 PM)Or1on Wrote: The fault doesn't belong to Ass-plunge. It's HELCO's fault. Not being proactive enough to oversee the contractors they hire.
Correct. The Ass-Plundherers are just working the bare minimum in order to maintain job security.
Why trim 6 feet every 2 years when you can trim 3 feet every year?!
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(10-14-2021, 04:34 PM)ChunksterK Wrote: (10-14-2021, 12:05 PM)Obie Wrote: "Our job is to get your power back on as quickly as possible. Someone else will come and take care of this."
This is true even on the mainland. The linemen just repair the broken lines. They don't trim trees.
In the case I witnessed, the same HELCO guys removed the fallen tree from the lines and then repaired them. That's why we mentioned the other tree. To be honest, I saw one other incident in which HELCO brought in an separate tree removal crew before they even started work on the lines. The bottom line is that they left a known and obviously dangerous situation in place for two months, resulting in another outage and expensive repair. You don't have to look very far to see that HELCO does a sorry job protecting their assets from tree falls.
These lineman are well trained people who respond 24 hours a day.
They shouldn't be used as tree trimmers.
I agree that Helco does a poor job overseeing the contractor.
