Tuesday, September 30, 2008

and the lights go out on Greeley

It was about 6:30 and we had just finished dinner, during dinner I had watch a neighbor boy and his friend throw a football back and forth on our street. This was a new event because this teen usually kept inside and never seemed to have friends over. Anyway, after dinner we heard loud popping noises and then notice sparks flying outside, showering both Brian and my car. The electric wire was sparking and then caught on fire. The fire burned through and the red, hot wire fell onto Brian's car and slid off into the grass. At the same time the rest of the burning wire, hit my car and then landed in the street.

By this time all the neighbor were outside, and someone had called the fire dept., within minutes the large red truck with it's flashing lights headed down the street. Then again, another POP and sparks flew, everyone froze, Colleen picked up her son and ran to the safety of her porch. This time the lights (that had just flickered before) when out, about 10 homes, including us, had no power. 

Amelia was a bit freaked out and grabbed her green blanket and draped it over her head as we stood in the door way and watched the firemen inspect the area. Joey, age 3, came out dresses in his fireman gear, ready for action. We waited awhile then went down the street to a house with power and all the kids played while we waited for AmerenUE to show up. As we were heading home they finally showed up about 8:30. We got the girls ready for bed by candle light and candles placed up high was their nightlight, Anna kept asking me to turn the lights on. 

It was an adventurous night, they think the boy's hit the wire with the ball and twisted the wires, one neighbor thought they were throwing firecrackers up and that hit the wire, either way... Brian's car was scratch a bit from the burning wire, and the power was restored at 10:00 p.m.

No comments: