HARWICH – A main power line in Harwich reportedly came down sparking a brush fire and knocking out power. The incident happened off Island Road along the Cape Cod Rail Trail in Harwich center. One leg of a main circuit was down causing half powers in some areas. This caused a barrage of smoke odor calls in the town. Firefighters could not directly extinguish the fire while the wires were still energized as the electrical current can travel up the water line and potentially zap the man on the nozzle. Eversource crews were responding to stabilize the problem and make repairs. Eversource’s outage map showed some 3.000 customers without power. Crews were able to isolate the issue and restore power to all but 350 customers by early evening.
Harwich Fire statement: Around 3:30 this afternoon a power line from the Lothrop sub-station failed in the area of Uncle Harry’s Road. The wire hit the ground and caused a brush fire that burned approximately 1/2 acre before it could be extinguished. The failure caused a half power situation in much of the Harwichport area which led to several other responses by the Fire Department. State DCR resources assisted at the scene and Dennis Fire assisted with other calls in town. Harwich Police also assisted at the scene.
Photos by Craig S. Chadwick/CWN; Video by Jake O’Callaghan/CWN
Downed power line sparks brush fire in Harwich 8/01/19 from Cape Wide News LLC on Vimeo.
Aerial video by Carl Jacobs:
