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ORIGINAL! Bellingham Carolina & Grant St Tree Fire Explosion 10.03.09

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Bellingham Carolina Grant Streets Trees Fire Electrical Power Lines Jacquee816 Explosions October Arching Powerlines Washington Original
Jacquee816
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    Jacquee816
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  • Views: 456
  • Added: 05-Oct-09

My husband and I stopped to look at some pallets about a block from our house and my husband heard weird buzzing. The tree across the street was blowing into a high voltage power line (23,000 volts) and catching on fire. We called the Bellingham fire department about 10 minutes before we started filming- many people called. (Puget Sound Energy was also called) They showed up about 5 minutes after we stopped filming. They missed the big show!
Our neighbours were all out on their lawns like it was the 4th of July.

No one got hurt. The power was out for a few hours while the tree was cut down. The family that lived in the house next to the tree evacuated long before we started filming.

What an insane thing to see. Neighbours from 4+ blocks away were coming to see what was going on because they could FEEL and hear the first explosion. Nuts.

  1. Categories: People & Stories
Comments on

ORIGINAL! Bellingham Carolina & Grant St Tree Fire Explosion 10.03.09

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  • It's like the tree ...

    It's like the tree is a large penis and the electricity is making it have an orgasm.

    By karsroe [Affiliate User] 1255110782 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
  • Thankyou to ...

    Thankyou to everyone who is reading the description and not asking silly questions. Also- We understood that the fire department couldn't do anything while the tree was on the power line, however it would have been comforting to have them there in case anything serious happened.
    Zorinlynx: It only charged that one time after the first explosion.

    By Jacquee816 [Affiliate User] 1255109184 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
  • I'm curious; the ...

    I'm curious; the upstream circuit breaker cut the power off near the end of the video, then it reclosed (as it's designed to do), energizing the line for a few more seconds before it tripped again.

    Did it reclose any more times after the second trip? Or is that it?

    Around here, breakers try to reclose three times before finally cutting out for good.

    Either way, that was beautiful. I would actually pay a lot to witness something like that in person; you were lucky to get to see it!

    By zorinlynx [Affiliate User] 1255101881 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
  • The fire department ...

    The fire department wouldn't have been able to do a thing until the power company deenergized the line, and they knew it.

    Getting anywhere NEAR that, especially with water, is suicide. The people who live in the house under the tree were lucky they didn't lose their home.

    By zorinlynx [Affiliate User] 1255101751 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
  • if your not ...

    if your not impressed so far watch 3:55

    By DARKB0LT [Affiliate User] 1255098732 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
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