Fire on Otter Tail Power poles Thursday

Jamestown (CSi) Otter Tail Power Company reports two utility pole fires Thursday night caused power outages.

A utility pole fire in Southeast Jamestown Thursday evening caused a  power outage to 10 customers, lasting about two hours.

Other customers experienced a brief power outage.  Otter Tail’s Jamestown Officer, Operations Manager, Charles Krebs says the cause was equipment failure, due to a burned conductor.

He says , the pole may need replacement, and if so. another planned outage can be expected to those ten customers.

The Jamestown City Fire Department was called to the scene in the alley in at  1410  11th Street Southeast, at 9:35-p.m.

Upon arrival, about 9:45 p.m., the fire department found the power pole was red on top with embers flying off the pole due to wind.

Lt. Sheldon Mohr says four city fire units and 21 firefighters  were on the scene about 25-minutes until Otter Tail crews arrived on the scene.

There was smoke and some burn damage to the top of the pole.  Power lines stayed in place.

Krebs adds that another outage occurred Thursday evening east of Old Highway 10 past the “S” curves toward Spiritwood, in the feeder line affecting 15-25  rural customers east of Bloom,  ranging from 8:30 p.m., to 12:30-a.m.

In that case water had seeped into a cracked insulator, causing a fire on the pole, and the outage.

He says that burned pole may need replacement as well.