LACONIA — There were no injuries Thursday after an excavator clipped a high-tension wire at the Belknap County Complex and knocked out power to the surrounding area.
“We were called there yesterday morning to a report of a crane that had taken some power lines down and someone was trapped in it and a fire,” said Police Chief Matt Canfield on Friday. “It didn’t turn out quite that way.”
When police arrived, Canfield said there was a mid-sized excavator, not a crane, that happened to clip a high-tension power line while working at the complex.
“It was an excavator that grabbed a communications line, and as it was moving forward, it pulled the pole down, which resulted in a three-phase live wire coming into contact with the ground," said Fire Chief Tim Joubert. “That’s 30,000 volts.”
There was significant arcing of electricity, and the communication wire set a nearby tree on fire.
“Because it took place right in front of the sheriff’s office, they were immediately on scene,” Canfield said. “It appears the communication line landed across the excavator, and there were live ones on the ground in the back of and side of him.”
Joubert said the sheriff’s department, whose office overlooks the site of the incident, was immediately on scene and provided initial support and kept other people at the complex from getting too close.
The sheriff's department and Tilton and Laconia police went to work securing the roads while utility provider Eversource was contacted.
“Eversource had an amazing rapid response,” Canfield said. “They were able to de-energize the electrical grid for that area, and they determined there was no energy in the ground around the excavator and rendered it safe.”
The worker was then able to exit the excavator safely. According to Joubert, the fire department arrived on scene at 11:20 a.m. on Thursday, and by 11:40 a.m., the power was shut off by the utility provider remotely before line crews arrived on scene to fully ground the remaining wires.
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