Pomborneit power pole collapses during storm

A power pole at Pomborneit collapsed during last week’s storm, bringing down the same powerline that sparked a fire on Black Saturday. See the video.

A rotten power pole at Pomborneit collapsed during last week’s storm arcing a spectacular flame that sent shivers down locals’ spines.

The powerline is the same one that sparked Black Saturday’s 2009 Pomborneit (Weerite) fire, which the Royal Commission found was caused by “the clashing of 66kV and 22kV conductors” which are strung one above the other.

Local telco network technician Ulick Napier caught the moment on video as he was travelling to work on the Princes Hwy at 7:30am last Friday.

“I called triple-0 and was on hold for about 5mins, then called a mate in the CFA,” Mr Napier said.

“It (the arcing) went for about a minute and a half, stopped then started up again twice more.”

Ecklin South dairy farmer Simon Craven took shots of the broken butt of the power pole that snapped last week, which he said clearly showed it was rotten.

“When I pulled at a piece of timber in the centre of the pole it snapped like a piece of chalk,” Mr Craven said poles are falling over that should have been replaced.

“This is the same 66kV line that started the Pomborneit fire on Black Saturday.”

The Pomborneit power pole that collapsed during last Friday’s storm.

Mr Craven and Terang dairy farmer Jill Porter have spent the past three years campaigning to improve safety in the region after their properties were hit by the March 2018 St Patrick’s Day fires, calling for higher power pole replacement rates and lobbying Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio to reduce the risk of powerline fires.

The government has responded by allocating almost $1 billion of its own and regional power companies customers’ money on insulating powerlines in high risk areas, installing automatic circuit reclosers that can be remotely disabled on total fire ban days and rapid earth current limiters at substations to limit powerline sparking.

Ms Porter has previously stated the ACR proved useless during the St Patrick’s Day fires, which she said failed to stop a fallen line sparking the Garvoc fire.

As for REFCLs Mr Craven said they did not work on 66kV powerlines, which ran along major highways connecting towns across the state’s west.

In commenting on the latest power pole collapse one of the government’s key advisers on powerline safety Professor Tony Marxsen reaffirmed “66kV powerlines in Victoria are not protected by REFCLs”.

“Interesting to see arc behaviour in the field that mirrors what we have seen in the lab. The wind and magnetic forces try to get the arc moving but it is ‘anchored’ by the bit of vegetation that bridges the gap between the line and the wire fence below, so it repeatedly extends and restrikes in the same spot.”