Power Outage Tuesday Morning Affects over 1,200 Hinesburg Customers, Closes HCS
Driver crashed into and broke a power pole on Charlotte Road.
By Cathy Ryan, The Record staff
At about 8:45 a.m. on Tuesday morning (Dec. 2), just as the snow was starting to stick, a large portion of Hinesburg residents and businesses lost power. Over 1,800 customers (a “customer” is an account or a meter) of Green Mountain Power in Hinesburg, Charlotte, Monkton, Ferrisburgh, and Starksboro lost power for almost three hours. It was restored around 11:30 a.m.
The outage was caused by a car losing control at the curve at the intersection of Charlotte Road and Leavensworth Road and colliding with and shearing off a utility pole. Kristin Kelly, Director of Communications for Green Mountain Power, told The Record that “crews worked as quickly as safely possible to replace the pole and get customers restored.”
The collision happened at approximately 3 a.m. Tuesday morning; the collision did not cause the power outage immediately. State police and Hinesburg Fire Department responded, and the state police report that it was a single-vehicle crash, no injuries, and no driver impairment. HFD cleared the scene shortly after touching base with GMP. On-scene time was nearly two hours due to the potential hazard with the power pole being severed in the manner it was.
When asked why no advance notice was given to GMP customers regarding a potential outage to replace the pole, Kelly explained that they hoped to be able to replace the pole without turning off the power, saying, “Safety for customers and crews is always a priority with our work. In some cases, crews are able to work safely while the lines are energized and they try to keep customers connected. In this case, as they worked on-scene it was determined that it would not be safe to continue without an emergency outage.”
Hinesburg Community School lost power and opted to arrange an early dismissal. CVU only lost power briefly, because the building has a generator, and did not dismiss early. CVU and Charlotte Central School are the only schools in the Champlain Valley School District with generators. Tyler Cohen, Communications Manager for CVSD told The Record, “I know we’d like to see backup power available in all schools and perhaps this work could be incorporated into future capital projects, but I don’t believe it’s an active discussion at the time given the current budget climate.”