Posted: 12/12/06
Power outage cools off city
By Jane Palen and David Heiller
Temperatures were dropping in Caledonia homes last Thursday during a power outage of more than four hours.
City clerk administrator Robert Nelson said that at about 10:30 a.m. the lights went off in city hall, and then there was a loud ìbangî from the substation behind city hall. He and other employees went outside to find smoke coming from transformers.
City electrician Roger Schmitz was on vacation and at home in Caledonia when his lights went out. He decided he had better return to work and see what was up.
Schmitz explained to The Argus that there are three ìbussbarsî that feed overhead to an enclosure which houses six reclosures. At the top of the first reclosure, a copper rod passed through an insulator and hooks onto a bussbar that crosses over all six reclosures which feed different parts of the city. The problem occurred at the point where the copper rod hooks to the bussbar. A five-inch hole was blown in the bussbar, and molten metal from the hole caused an arc flash that crossed on the line side of the first reclosure, damaging all three high side insulators.
Schmitz called it a ìfreak accident,î and said that the city electrical department has been inspecting the equipment regularly and saw no sign of trouble.
The broken bussbar was taken to APN in Caledonia, which still had power, and employees were able to fix the bar within 45 minutes. Schmitz praised the quick work done by the company, and said because of their work power was restored more quickly than it otherwise would have been.
In addition to city crews, Tri-County Electric and Dairyland Power responded to remedy the situation.
Meanwhile, city employees and police went to check on the safety of some of the elderly in town. It was a very cold day, with temperatures in the single digits and a stiff wind blowing.
The outage affected most of the city, although there were areas along the highway that were not affected because they are served by the Wild Turkey Substation west of the highway. Power remained on at Caledonia Middle/High School, but was off at the cityís three other elementary schools, resulting in school being closed for the day at 1 p.m.
In the downtown area, many businesses closed, and the Houston County Courthouse closed at about 1:30.
Power was restored at about 2:50 p.m.
Things went well
Chuck Gavin, who is in charge of Caledoniaís emergency management plan, said things went well. He and city worker Mike Gerardy directed a lot of the emergency work. ìIt was a great team effort by the local people,î Gavin said.
Examples of that abound. Farmers Matt and Nick Hoscheit and Fred Arnold hauled in generators with their tractors, and Caledonia Implement did the same. One was hooked up to Whispering Pines and another to Loretta Heritage to provide power for senior citizens living there.
Hokah Fire Department brought in some small generators, which were hooked up to homes that were heated by hot water systems.
Local electricians such as Hoskins and Bradís Electric of Caledonia and P&T Electric of La Crosse helped a lot, Gavin said.
The generator at the jail failed, which temporarily stopped 9-1-1 service. Todd Lemke, Matt Hoscheit, and Gavin checked out the generator, which is tested monthly. The coil had burned out, which is unusual, Gavin said. He had it running again in about an hour and a half by taking an automotive coil and wiring it into a small engine one.
Generators were hooked up to city hall and the city auditorium so that people could have come there if the power had stayed out longer, Gavin said. That worst-case scenario fortunately did not happen.
ìThe older people, they were getting nervous,î he said. In some homes, the temperature dropped to 50 degrees.
Cause uncertain
The cause for the power failure has yet to be determined. Although the city is in the midst of a major electrical upgrade, the main substation is not part of the upgrade plans.
Schmitz said that the city is inspecting the equipment every day, and that Tri-County Electric is also investigating.
Caledonia Argus
314 West Lincoln St.
P.O. Box 227
Caledonia, MN 55921-0227
507/724-3475
E-Mail: editor.argus@ecm-inc.com