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Downed wire
A few minutes ago, I called Telus about a downed wire in front of my house next to the road outside of my property. I told them that I don’t know if it is a communications wire or a BC Hydro wire and asked if it was safe. I was told I should pull the wire out of the way of the school children who walk past here and I should use a stick at least 2 feet long. Does this make sense?
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- Nighthawk
Community Power User
Phone / cable lines are connected lower on the pole. Hydro lines are higher on the pole. Look at the pole closely to see where the line was attached.
If it's Hydro, call them and they'll get someone out ASAP. If the end of the line that is connected is still on the main pole, I'd avoid touching it at all. Hydro lines are less commonly hit because they are mounted higher up than telecom lines.
If the line is phone/cable, then it should be safe to use a stick to move it as those lines are low voltage. If the end of that line is connected to your house and no longer at the pole, then there'd be no voltage usually.
- I can’t see where the line goes to as it disappears into the trees, so no way to tell how or where it attaches to the pole. Certainly the Telus rep had no idea whether it was hydro or communications wiring. When Telus called me back, another rep told me that if it wasn’t sparking, it was safe to touch. He also said that on my side of the road, all the wires are Telus, not Hydro (completely false since there are transformers there). Irresponsible of them.
