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Dispatchers often can shut off power

 
Published Jan. 1, 2002|Updated Sept. 2, 2005

Florida Power Corp. dispatchers can shut down power to an area with downed power lines from a remote location "in most cases," a spokesman for the private utility company said Monday.

But spokesman John Strickling refused to say whether that technology might have saved a St. Petersburg man if dispatchers had used it Dec. 11.

It took a Florida Power crew 37 minutes that day to drive to the scene of an accident in which Andrew Miller, 21, was trapped inside his car with a 7,200-volt distribution line on its roof. Largo Fire Rescue workers could not help Miller because of the live power line, and he died as they watched.

Florida Power has the ability to shut off power by flipping a switch "over most of the system," Strickling said. "In most cases, we do have that capability."

"But I cannot provide any information on how that would apply in any particular circumstance," he said.

Florida Power has repeatedly refused to answer specific questions about the 37-minute response. Instead, the company has said it launched an internal investigation.

Chuck Freeman, manager for Pinellas County 911, said the dispatcher should have used everything at his fingertips to help Miller.

"If they had the capability to shut down power, they should have made the decision to shut down from there," Freeman said. "They knew the severity of it."

Miller was trapped in his car after he crashed into a 40-foot utility pole at Starkey Road south of East Bay Drive. Even though the pole fell atop the car and dragged a live wire across the roof, the rubber tires kept Miller from being electrocuted. Rescuers found him breathing at the scene but helplessly watched him die.

Pinellas County 911 dispatchers called Florida Power five times on a direct emergency line before the crew arrived 37 minutes later. On the 911 tapes, frantic dispatchers can be heard explaining the urgency to the power company's dispatcher. Twice they said rescuers could not approach the vehicle until power was shut down.

Florida Power's dispatcher said the crew was tending to an outage in Bardmoor, which is 3 to 5 miles from the accident scene.

Tampa Electric Co. said it can shut down most service areas in emergencies, often only affecting about 3,000 customers with each circuit.

Spokeswoman Laura Plumb said TECO shares that information with local authorities and often defers to them during emergencies.

"It's a fairly regular occurance for a car to hit a pole and to have the power go out," she said. "But certainly anything that is a life-threatening situation, we will comply with anything the fire department or police department need us to do."

That capability may have saved Ybor City in May 2000, when a forklift operator snapped a 7,650-volt power line and set several blocks on fire. TECO shut down the circuit six minutes after the initial 911 call. That allowed firefighters time to act quickly.

"A decision like that would require judgment and would be made on a case-by-case basis," Plumb said. "We would do whatever the fire department or police department urged us to do."

_ Michael Sandler can be reached at (727) 444-4174 or sandlersptimes.com.

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