Power line downed in White Lake following last week’s winter storm

WHITE LAKE — After the wet, heavy snow that fell on the area early last week, a large number of homes in White Lake apparently lost power late last Tuesday night when a tree fell on a power line and caused the connected wooden pole to snap in half on Wilson School Road.

A separate power line connected to the pole that broke had originally been linked to another pole on the opposite side of the road, and when personnel from the Wolf River Volunteer Fire Department arrived after the pole broke, that line was stretched over and across it like a kind of angled clothesline.

Wolf River Assistant Fire Chief Mike Holbrook, who responded to the incident, said he first learned of the outage Tuesday night because power was actually lost in his home, which happens to be on the Wilson School Road as well.

“It looked like a soft maple tree must have got overloaded with heavy snow on the branches. It fell down and took down the power line, and the stress from the power line is what actually caused the power pole to break,” Holbrook said.

According to a report filed about the downage, the Wolf River Fire Department responded around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday and blocked off the road while waiting for a repair crew from Alliant Energy, who replaced the pole and re-energized it shortly after noon the same day.

“I wouldn’t think it was too dangerous because it was on a road that had very light traffic,” Holbrook said. “But the service wire going to the house right across the road from it was in the road. We just stayed there to block traffic. Considering it was just on the other side of a hill and the roads weren’t plowed at that point, just for the safety of the community, we wanted to make sure nobody would pop over the hill and slide right down into the wire. There was a tree in the road too, but I did clear that right away.”

Alliant Energy Spokesperson Morgan Hawk said approximately 200 homes lost power because of the weather-related outage, which he said occurred around 11 p.m. last Tuesday.

“Our crews would have responded as soon as we were notified of a downed pole,” Hawk said. “When our crews arrive on site, they deenergize everything if that needs to be done and make the area safe for customers. Our crews responded and part of that making that area safe for customers is making sure everything is de-energized. Then what we’ll do is make repairs as we’re doing that and those repairs will restore repairs for customers.”

Hawk said Alliant crews are always on standby to respond to outages and downed poles.

“Certainly there is a heightened awareness when there’s heavy snows and high winds, as we know that can cause issues to our system,” he said. “Crews are always ready to respond, and we always take into consideration weather conditions and the condition of roads. We always make sure people are safe as we go out to restore power. So as soon as it is safe to do so, our crews are in the area and dispatched and work to restore power and make the area safe as quickly as possible. That’s our number one priority.”

Traffic on the road was blocked all morning, according to Wolf River Fire Chief Alex Emerich.

“The line was hanging not far above the road, so they had to close the road. But all they had to do was go to Grudgeville Road out to Highway 64 and down to County P. They’re only about a mile apart. So it wasn’t much of a detour — maybe two miles,” Emerich said.

Emerich, who said he has been with the Wolf River Volunteer Fire Department since approximately 1986, said calls like last Wednesday’s are relatively common.

“Usually when we get a wind or something, we’ll have a tree go down on a power line or something,” he said. “So it’s pretty routine. We just try to keep the public safe until the power company gets there to repair it.”