I apologize that my first-ever Steemit entry is about a real danger to anyone living near, adjacent to or under a power line - but this is so important that I want to be sure EVERYONE is aware of this genuinely life-threatening situation.
With HB 797 and SB 796 both having passed recently in Washington, much has been written regarding underground power lines, infrastructure hardening and concerns with cost offsets passed to the consumer. However, there are equally important (and perhaps larger now that Hurricane Season has begun) related public safety issues that merit attention.
On Sept. 12, 2018, an FPL feeder line that runs along a canal in my community disconnected — literally just fell off the pole — and sent the full charge through my home.
The electrical current was so strong that it blew fixtures off our home inside and out, melted parts of the metal fence and screened enclosure attached to our home, started a fire in the yard and created a smoldering hotspot in our attic.
FPL pulled the meter from the home that night, and the home has been uninhabitable since.
The line that failed behind my home has a history of failure:
- On August 16, 2011 — Fire Department, Riviera Beach Police and FPL responded to an equipment failure on the line resulting in fire.
- On December 21, 2017 — Fire Department, Riviera Beach Police and FPL responded to another equipment failure and resulting fire.
- On September 12, 2018 — Fire Department, Riviera Beach Police and FPL responded to a third failure of this line — this one being the most serious — with the fallen power line that started a fire and caused the destruction of the home.
Again (because this is SO important) -- the electrical current was so strong that it blew fixtures off our home inside and out, melted parts of the metal fence and screened enclosure attached to our home, started a fire in the yard and created a smoldering hotspot in our attic that, thankfully, the Fire Department was able to contain before more widespread damage was caused.
The night the line fell — September 12, 2018 — was a calm evening. No wind. No rain.
What happened to my home is undeniable proof that this can happen anywhere — at any time — to any one of the millions of Floridians living in near, adjacent to or directly under existing (and aging) power lines.
We have tried for nearly 9 months (and counting) to have the utility work with us and our insurer handle the claim in good faith. As of this writing, this has all been unsuccessful.
I am not an “influencer’, public figure nor celebrity — so it has proven to be quite easy to be ignored by the corporate entities responsible. This is not shocking. It happens every day to millions of Americans like you, and like me.
Books have been written about it.
Movies have been made about it.
People have died because of it.
My husband and I were home when the power line electrocuted our home.
On such a calm, pleasant evening, we would normally have been in the pool, but I got home late from work that night so we were just going to have dinner and relax before bed.
Clearly, that didn’t happen.
He was cooking dinner when the house began lighting up. We literally ran out of the house as plugs and sockets exploded around us.
I don’t have enough fingers or toes to count the number of times we’ve heard “do you know how lucky you are to be alive?!?” from the police, the fire department, utility linemen, doctors, and others.
Had we been in the pool … had we been on the back porch … had it been raining … the outcome would have been decidedly — unalterably— different.
Our home remains unlivable, and I can’t sleep more than 2–3 hours before waking up from horrifying nightmares of dragging my husband’s lifeless, bloody body from our home, the two of us cooking to death in our pool or being trapped with no way out.
But yes — we are lucky.
We are alive.
It would be devastating to see something like this — or (god forbid!!) worse — happen to anyone else.
Please check your surroundings.
Please be safe.
