Community Corner
JCP&L Worker Rescued After Live Wires Fall On Truck In Flemington
The lineworker was working overnight to restore power to homes when a tree branch fell and brought down the wires, the company said.
FLEMINGTON, NJ — Jersey Central Power & Light is reminding people about safety around downed power lines after one of its lineworkers had to be rescued when live wires fell on his bucket truck early Saturday morning.
The lineworker was responding to an outage affecting 19 homes in Flemington about 2:20 a.m. when a tree beside the road came down, bringing power lines down with it. The lines landed on the worker's bucket truck, said Christopher Hoenig, a spokesman for JCP&L.
"The lineworker’s safety training kicked in and he remained calm, stayed in his truck and called for help," Hoenig said.
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The wires lying on the truck were live, creating what Hoenig said was "a very dangerous — potentially deadly — situation."
Another lineworker arrived and cut off the power to the line, allowing the trapped lineworker to get out of the truck and walk away uninjured.
Find out what's happening in Flemingtonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
"During this stormy stretch that we are experiencing, this serves as a reminder to the public to remain in your vehicle at all times if your vehicle comes into contact with downed power lines," Hoenig said. "You can NOT tell just by looking whether downed wires are live."
Hoenig said JCP&L recently released a video to show people how to handle a situation if wires fall on their vehicle:
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