High winds snap power lines

BUTTE -- Winds in excess of 50 mph snapped power lines in the Butte area on Saturday night, creating sporadic fireworks from live wires lying alongside the road.

According to Butte Fire Chief Charles von Gunten, four emergency responders from the Butte Fire Department reported to the scene about midnight at the intersection of the Knik River Road and the Old Glenn Highway.

"The line snapped but the transformer did not kick out," explained von Gunten. "So we had live lines lying beside the road."

Von Gunten said that the transformer would try to re-energize once every two or three minutes, creating the spectacular fiery display that lit up the nighttime sky and set fire to nearby brush and grass.

"Then it would de-energize and since the grass was still wet from rains that we had earlier, the fires would go out by themselves," he added.

Von Gunten explained that firefighters first established a security cordon around the downed live wires to prevent anyone from being injured, and then identified the pole involved with the wires so that their dispatch operator could notify the owner of the lines, Matanuska Electric Association.

Once a MEA lineman had arrived and disconnected the transformer, von Gunten said the firefighters made sure that all fires were extinguished and then left the linemen to finish their job of restringing the wire and turning the power back on.

MEA could not be reached for additional information prior to press time.