Hundreds Of Power Lines Down Across Metro Detroit
ALLEN PARK (WWJ) - It was a busy night for metro Detroit firefighters because of the gusty winds and severe weather.
Early Monday afternoon, a DTE spokesperson said police and fire officials were on the scene of about 600 incidents of downed power lines across Southeast Michigan.
In Allen Park, firefighters responded to more than a dozen calls about downed wires overnight.
"It was peppered everywhere from the north end to the south end and everywhere in between," said Fire Chief Doug LaFond. "Basically all our manpower was out there; and really there's no way to have enough firefighters on duty for an event like this."
LaFond said service calls were backed up and dispatchers had to make a list of downed power lines for firefighters.
LaFond said they had to babysit most of those lines until a DTE crew arrived on the scene. "If we feel that they can be left alone we'll rope the area off, notify DTE, and we'll leave them sometimes," he said, "but we have to be pretty assured that there's no way that anybody can get to them and accidentally pick them up or step on them or anything like that."
LaFond said his crew also dealt with a small garage fire overnight. No injuries were reported.
Meantime, Huron Valley Ambulance, which dispatches fire calls for all of Washtenaw County, said it had nearly 100 calls for fire help overnight.
In Detroit, the fire officials said they responded to "a ton" of reports of downed lines since Sunday night.
Detroit police said 14-year-old boy was hospitalized, Monday morning, after he came in contact with a downed power line while walking home from school after class was canceled.
DTE spokesman Randi Berris reminds metro Detroiters never to touch and to always report downed power lines when you encounter them. "Stay at least 20 feet away from downed power lines and anything they might come in contact with especially metal fences," Berris said. "Treat every downed power-line as if it were energized."
DTE Energy worked throughout the night in an effort to restore power to about 245,000 homes and businesses that went dark when gusty storms blew across Metro Detroit Sunday night.
