Be Careful with Equipment

Jiles · Mar 23, 2011

Last summer I noticed a new guy bushogging the property next to me. I know the guy and he is the type person that goes wide open at everything he does. I have bushoged the property for the previous owner so I knew a little about it.
I thought I better go out and warn him about a power pole guide wire on the property that was unmarked and virtually unseen with grown up vegitation.
Just as I got close to the property line, I was too late
He hit the wire just inside the right front wheel, the front of the tractor came up about a foot off the ground, the top of the Power pole moved toward the property--what looked like 3 foot.
A ball of fire--for lack of proper term--came down the guide wire and for some reason heated the netwire fencing to the point of starting about four fires along the 660' fence.
LUCKY he wasn't hurt--just had to change his underware before he could help me fight the fire.

My power was knocked out so the power company was notified and they immediately placed a yellow covering on the outside of the guide wire. :!:

BCnT · Mar 23, 2011

he's extremely lucky thats all that happened...fwiw power companies are responsible for keeping power line ROW's clean...if anybody has overgrown ROW's like that,call em and make them stand up to their end of the bargain.

jackinok · Mar 23, 2011

it happens ,old friend of mines brother was killed when he hooked a guy wire with a disc and pulled the pole right down on top of cab.

fixerupper · Mar 23, 2011

A few years ago when we were harvesting in Idaho one on the young combine drivers was going wide open up the road with a 580 Cat combine with a 40 foot header at night. The end of the header snagged a guy wire to a pole that held up a three phase line. The guy wire was right on the edge of the traveled portion of the road and not marked. When the combine stopped it was sideways in the road. This is a heavy machine, the combine weighs 42000 pounds and the head weighs 8000. The power pole went down and the blue ball of fire could be seen for several miles. The driver got on the radio and was freaking out thinking he was going to die while the other guys were trying to get him to shut up so they could tell him to stay in the cab.

I never did hear who had to pay the bill, but all that was hurt on the combine was a couple of bent brackets underneath the header. Jim

Billy NY · Mar 23, 2011

He is very fortunate, someone was watching over him. I could not imagine the feeling knowing what is about to happen.

I think it is absolutely necessary to walk and or familiarize ones self with the work area, especially if new to it, always pays off when you find these things and mark them conspicuously. Even then, sometimes you may not find every hazard.

We have a 115,000 volt circuit and a 30,000 volt circuit coming through here, the 30,000 one has double wood poles, x braced at the end of a run before it connects to a large tower, passing over water and a state road, 2 guys on each side, 4 in all, they are covered in a yellow plastic, shield, near the bottom, you can't miss em. One set is right in an old tractor path that I use, I have to go between em, always pay attention down there, you pull one of those poles over, there is 3 lines on each, 6 total, each w/30,000 volts. Power company has to provide places to pass, when they bisect your land, nothing I could do about the location of the guys, their land.

buickanddeere · Mar 23, 2011

The local Amish did something similar to the
tri-plex crossing the road to my place.
They were tearing down the road one Sunday
afternoon with the crane/boom raised some to clear
a load on the truck bed.
They snagged the triplex, snapped the pole off
on my side of the road after it's guy wire failed.
The transformer and the three phase 4800V
primaries stayed up but the pole was cracked.
Once they got the truck steering straight they
floored the throttle all the way home.Neighbour
seen them run the stop sign across the busy
highway.

CBL95 · Mar 24, 2011

My dad (at the ripe age of 12) was discing with a 2290 case in some river bottoms and was crusing along at a good clip (day dreaming) along the side of the road where the power pole guy wires anchored in the field and pulled evey one in the field out of the ground! needless to say grandpa was NOT pleased

Be Careful with Equipment

Jiles

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BCnT

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jackinok

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fixerupper

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Billy NY

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buickanddeere

Well-known Member

CBL95

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