The Seattle P.I. reports today that Seattle City Light officials have found a street light vault cover at 85th and Greenwood to be energized with 120 volts. This is the sixth light pole cover to be found leaking voltage. A dog was electrocuted on Queen Anne on Thanksgiving Day after stepping on an energized light pole cover.
Read the P.I.’s full story.
14 responses so far ↓
1 Iron City Mike // Dec 16, 2010 at 1:58 pm
Which corner is it on? Slum Dog, hair acadamy, etc?
2 Tiktok // Dec 16, 2010 at 6:00 pm
The article says the 8500 block of Greenwood, so it’s not necessarily at the intersection of NW 8th and Greenwood.
3 RidgeDweller // Dec 16, 2010 at 7:55 pm
We called two weeks ago to report loud zapping sounds coming from the pole in front of our house. The lady who answered the phone asked if we were at 77th and 3rd. I explained we were a few streets away, and she told me that there had been other calls from our hood about the same problem on nearby streets.
It’s damn scary and Seattle City Light better get on the problem and react better. It took me a day to get through when I called even though I was calling the emergency number.
4 greenwoodcarp // Dec 16, 2010 at 8:57 pm
Geeez, like we don’t have enough to worry about already.
BTW, Why are their so many potholes all of a sudden?
5 tw78 // Dec 16, 2010 at 9:44 pm
re:potholes – I think the unusually heavy rainfall is to blame. They are terrible right now!!
6 Tiktok // Dec 16, 2010 at 11:28 pm
Rain and the snow/ice from a couple of weeks ago open up potholes.
7 anotherneighbor // Dec 17, 2010 at 4:33 am
Well, have they FIXED the vault cover?
I tried twice to get through to report a street light that was out, and they emailed back saying they couldn’t locate it… Fortunately one of my neighbors must have called it in – it’s lit now.
Wish they’d say what else we can do to avoid these things… Would wearing rubber soled shoes help? Should we avoid stepping on any of these covers altogether? How far away can they arc (if at all)?
8 Susan Mullen // Dec 17, 2010 at 9:20 am
This website has some good information. Until the sad death of the dog on Queen Anne, I didn’t know the problem even existed. And I was very surprised to find several websites with information.
http://streetzaps.com/
9 philbert // Dec 17, 2010 at 11:21 am
Things to be ok the lookout for:
* Does your dog act like it is being electrocuted?
* Do you notice other dog corpses nearby?
* Are you in Seattle?
Thanks for the tips, City Light. Real frakkin’ helpful.
10 ethel // Dec 17, 2010 at 12:39 pm
It would be great to have a picture of what items have been electrified. What exactly is a light pole cover? What other items have been found to have current running through them?
11 Tahomajim // Dec 17, 2010 at 10:17 pm
Again PW.com fails to show the cover in a photo and inform us which pole or poles are/were the dangerous ones.
I’m no professional journalist but if I see a pattern of stories that only report part of the story then we have a problem and we’ve certainly seen many such stories over the past month.
I supose PW could differ to the PI story but PW can write up their own facts and find the answers.
PhinneyWood.com you need to do your job, and do it better.
12 Outside the box // Dec 18, 2010 at 10:36 am
Although curiousity makes us want to know WHICH metal cover was charged, it is really not THAT important, I believe. I assume they immediately secured the area and fixed it ASAP. Imagine the liability if they didn’t fix it right away! When I walk my dog on busier streets now I don’t let her walk over ANY metal plate. It takes some diligence, but appears to be worth it! Don’t seem to be as many metal covers off the beaten path…which is a better place to walk dogs anyway!
13 Megan the Vegan // Dec 19, 2010 at 11:41 am
I guess we shouldn’t be peeing on any lampposts?
14 Fred // Dec 24, 2010 at 7:52 pm
The incident was reported by a friend of mine…the electrified panel was in front of the Baranof.
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