Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,

On the evening of August 19, a very severe wind and rain storm moved through our area with winds recorded at 90 mph. It was only a mile or two wide. It broke ten power poles just over the hill from me. It broke a large tree in front of a granary and did other major damage.

I reported that our power was out. In less than an hour we could hear radios and people talking nearby and we had power in three hours. The next day a crew worked much of the day building a new line and switching power back to the original lines.

There was also a crew of oilfield workers in my pasture cleaning up a minor oil spill. The wind had blown a small building off an injection well. A valve was broken and the building was totaled.

In the afternoon, a short in the power line dropped a spark into some tall, dry grass, starting a fire in my pasture. An oil worker reported the fire and the crew rushed to slow it down.

PRECorp also saw the fire and started to help. As soon as the fire page went out, our local firefighters came with their fire trucks and tanker.

Thankfully there wasn’t much wind. But the fire was moving fast until everyone was on it.

A quick response with our every ready fire trucks got it stopped. A big thank you to all who do so much to keep our power on and to those who work so hard to be ready to fight our fires.

If you have not donated to your local fire zone lately, I urge you to do it now. You never know when it will be you that needs their help.

Jeanne Shepherd

Oshoto