AT&T pole that fell into Sacramento backyard has been a concern for over 40 years, couple says
SACRAMENTO — A Sacramento couple is grateful they are alive after an AT&T pole in their backyard came crashing down.
"We've been having them come out and checking and they kept reassuring me that it is perfectly fine, it will never fall," said Hae-Yung West, who lives in Rosemont and was woken up by the pole crashing Friday.
Hae-Yung and her husband, Randy West, said they have been concerned that this exact thing would happen since they moved into their home in 1978. They said it had looked like it was leaning and unsteady from the start and had AT&T inspect it multiple times over the years.
"We had a storm this year and one of the results was that we had a cable that was loose," Randy said.
Randy said that loose cable was not fixed to their liking and on Friday, at around 4:30 a.m., they were woken up to a large crash.
The couple said an AT&T technician came out the same day it fell.
"He said, 'All I can do is take pictures and report it,' " Hae-Yung said.
Another technician was inspecting the pole Monday morning and told the Wests that it was being used for cable, not telephone services. AT&T could not confirm this with CBS13.
Monday afternoon, crews came in to remove the pole from crushed planters. Randy believes it's because they told AT&T that they called CBS13.
The couple is grateful the pole was removed but said AT&T plans to replace the pole in their backyard.
"Do we want another pole? You should talk to my wife about that," Randy said.
CBS13 reached out to AT&T and asked why the pole can't be undergrounded or moved to the street instead of placing it back on the Wests property.
AT&T gave us this statement: "We will replace this pole as soon as soon as we can, and we apologize for the inconvenience this has caused."
"The way AT&T has been working in regards to our pole, we've always been a backburner," Hae-Yung said.
The couple said AT&T is willing to work overtime to install the new pole because of overhead live wires, but the Wests question why there isn't any other solution, worrying it could lead to the same problem.
"We would hope that we would get a better, more caring response from AT&T," Randy said.
AT&T had no further comment when CBS13 inquired about the couple's requests.
