Restoration works have continued today with the painstaking process of replacing poles. Despite fires jumping containment lines, our line crews have managed to restore power to many customers, although 100 customers are still experiencing outages.
Over 300 poles were significantly damaged or burnt down in the fires and General Manager NIS business Craig Julian acknowledged that the situation could have been even worse without earlier Government investment in steel poles.
“Thankfully through Government investment in replacement of wooden poles with steel poles, the damage to our network, though significant, has been reduced because of the pole replacement program over the last few years.” Mr Julian said.
More reinforcements have arrived in town this evening and on Monday we will continue to focus on getting power restored to as many customers as possible.
Our crews and contractors have been overwhelmed by the support of the community. “We’ve had farmers and their families providing our crews with hot meals and support and that means so much to us, particularly as many of these people have been affected by the fires themselves.” Mr Julian said.
100 customers are still without power in the Cape Le Grande, Cascade and Merivale areas out towards Gibson and Condingup.
Customers and the general public are reminded to stay clear of all electrical assets, in particular fallen powerlines. Call 13 23 51 to report a fault or emergency.
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