Within a year of that tale, the bowling alley was torn down. It has been a gravelly rubble-strewn vacant lot for years. The only thing left is the dead end power pole that used to serve the building.
Within a few months of the teardown, I submitted a recommendation to our planning group to have the pole, with the 3-phase transformers hanging on it, be removed to reduce our exposure to outages. It is clear nothing is going to be built there for years, and those energized transformers weren't doing anything but asking to be smacked. This is sort of what it looks like:
And of course, my dear readers, you can see where this is going.
Tonight we got a call, car vs. pole, wires down, transformers in the road, wires on the car. This is bread and butter so I didn't think much of it until I pulled up the map.
Oh yes, they did.
Two of the transformers are leaking oil on the road, the haz mat contractor is en route, and we've got a hell of a mess out there. The road is blocked, and it is very late on a Friday night so my dispatchers are still struggling to get enough manpower rounded up to head out there.
My recommendation is now being followed, out of necessity.
That's all this post is, just one long ungracious I-told-you-so moment. Carry on and be safe out there.