As flames shot 40 feet in the air on Jacks Hill Road in Oxford Sunday, town officials could not convince Connecticut Light & Power to come out and de-enegize a wire that had caused the fire.
The primary wire snapped during Hurricane Irene. It burned through several feet of pavement, rupturing an underground gas line and igniting the fire. The Oxford Fire Department evacuated several homes in the neighborhood,and supervised the burn while they waited.
“For three hours, at least, they wouldn’t shut the circuit off,” Oxford Ambulance Director Jerome “Jerry” Schwab told U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal Thursday, during Blumenthal’s tour of storm damage around Connecticut.
“The storm had died down,” Schwab said. “We couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t come out.”
Blumenthal met with Oxford and Seymour officials Thursday afternoon, as part of his tour of communities around Connecticut that were affected by Hurricane Irene.
While the gas fire in Oxford was unique, Blumenthal said he has heard similar stories of communication problems and frustrations with the utility companies during the storm response.
‘They Couldn’t Give Us Those Answers’
The storm struck overnight Saturday and into Sunday. At the peak, some 90 percent of customers in Oxford and 85 percent of customers in Seymour were without power.
Both towns are served by Connecticut Light & Power.
Oxford officials, like officials across the state and in towns served by United Illuminating Company, complained that they had no projection for when that power would be restored.
“CL&P was less than responsive even giving a time frame to prepare for,” Schwab said.
The town didn’t know whether to tell people to be ready for another two more days, or seven more days without power.
“They couldn’t give us those answers,” Schwab said.
Oxford First Selectwoman Mary Ann Drayton-Rogers said residents became increasingly angry at her and town employees. The feeling was that government could do nothing, Drayton-Rogers said.
By Thursday, Oxford was regaining power. About 37 percent of the CL&P customers were still without power in Oxford at about 4 p.m.
Seymour got most of its power restored Wednesday, but had about 2 percent without power Thursday afternoon.
Communication
The storm struck at the towns’ communication systems too. In Seymour, along with power out, the phone lines run by AT&T were down, according to Emergency Management Director Thomas Eighmie.
The office of emergency management in Seymour had to rely on their cell phones to communicate.
Eighmie said Seymour emergency management set up a Twitter account during the storm to communicate with residents using their smart phones.
Drayton-Rogers said the town should have resorted to more archaic technologies.
“It has been very difficult for us to get the word out to residents,” she said. “Looking back, we should have had signs made up pointing to emergency shelters.”
FEMA Money?
Blumenthal said he is pushing to get FEMA money to help with the clean-up efforts in Connecticut.
“I think we meet all the criteria,” Blumenthal said. “There’s no question in my mind.”
Seymour officials are looking for that money to repair a generator at the Police Department. A tree fell on the generator at about 5 a.m. Sunday, according to Lt. Paul Satkowski.
The generator continued working throughout the storm, with only one temporary failure. But the outer shell was badly damaged from the tree, Satkowski said.
Seymour also wants to use some FEMA money to upgrade its 21-year-old communications console at the Seymour Police Department. There was no problem during Hurricane Irene, Eighmie said, but the console has failed and caused communication problems in town during other incidents.
Oxford also wants to use FEMA money for necessities, such as a generator for Town Hall.
Schwab said they’ve received federal grants before, but had to use the money to buy extra equipment that wouldn’t otherwise have been purchased.
It resulted in a $25,000 tactical thermal imaging camera for wood rescues sitting on his desk, unused.
“That $25,000 could be put towards a generator for Town Hall,” Schwab said.
“It would be greatly beneficial if we could use that money for something we actually need,” he said.
