News Short: Boom truck knocks out Washington City power

UDOT truck knocks out power throughout all of Washington City, Washington, Utah, April 10, 2014 | Photo by Kimberly Scott, St. George News

WASHINGTON – A power outage interrupted service throughout Washington City Thursday morning when a Utah Department of Transportation employee on a boom truck came in contact with the power lines near 700 North and Main Street in Washington.

“It appears that a UDOT truck was up working on the camera and the boom off of the lift came in contact with the power lines,” Washington City firefighter Matt Evans said.

The power line had to be shut off, Evans said. Washington City Power arrived on the scene and secured the power to that line so that the man could safely get down, he said.

Washington City residents remained without power until the man and equipment could be cleared from the line and the power company assessed any possible damage caused by contact with the boom truck.

Washington City Power reported power was restored by 10:25 a.m.

No injuries were reported.

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6 Comments

  • Christine April 10, 2014 at 1:07 pm

    Ok, so I’m dumb, but why did it touching the power line cause the power to go out and why couldn’t the guy move it out of the way? It said no injuries……

    • BECAUSE April 10, 2014 at 2:23 pm

      Power lines can carry more than 500,000 volts. Touching one of the lines can provide a path for electricity to the ground and badly injure or kill you. Electricity is always trying to go somewhere. It goes easily through materials like metal, trees, the ground, and things with water in them – like people. So in this case, as the story states, the power line had to be shut off so they could secure the power to that line in order for the employee to get down safely. There was a tremendously loud rumbling noise when the boom hit the line this morning. I’m glad the worker is safe.

  • My Evil Twin April 10, 2014 at 3:07 pm

    That could have ruined his whole day! Quite a number of folks have been killed that way. Glad he is OK.

  • Bub April 10, 2014 at 9:41 pm

    the camera???

    • My Evil Twin April 11, 2014 at 1:24 pm

      Traffic camera.

    • Kevlar April 11, 2014 at 2:19 pm

      Big brother is watching… 🙂

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