PUD tackles pole replacement from above
Grant PUD/courtesy photo Grant County PUD crews were required to use a helicopter to replace a power pole damaged by fire last summer but not spotted until February.
Grant PUD/courtesy photo Grant County PUD crews were required to use a helicopter to replace a power pole damaged by fire last summer but not spotted until February.
QUINCY — Grant County PUD crews brought in a helicopter to help repair a pole damaged in last summer’s Monument Hill fire.
The damage to the pole was discovered in February by a maintenance crew from the Bonneville Power Administration, according to a press release from the Grant County PUD. The fire damaged a double-pole structure on the Columbia-Ancient Lakes 115-kilovolt transmission line, causing the poles to bend under the weight.
“Once the issue was identified, the affected segment of the line was de-energized and power rerouted” while repairs are made.
The damaged power poles were about two miles northeast of SR-28, and were “standing on a knoll about 40 feet above the nearest site that could be used (for repair equipment).” Repairs were conducted late last week.
“Due to the challenges of the remote location, crews replaced the structure with the assistance of a helicopter to set the new poles and cross arm. The new structure is made of steel, not cedar. Yet each steel pole weighs about half of what an equivalent cedar pole weighs.”
The Monument Hill fire burned about 6,000 acres northeast of Quincy, between Quincy and Ephrata, in August 2017.