Truck mishap causes chain reaction

Friday, July 10, 2009
McCook Firefighter Mike Schoenemann pours fly ash on B Street to soak up fluids leaking from a collision Thursday morning. Several accidents were reported after a truck, above, knocked down a power pole, leaving 400 customers out of power for a time. (Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Daily Gazette)

About four accidents occurred within an hour and an half of each other, due to the power pole that was knocked down Thursday morning, confirmed Detective Larry Kinne of the McCook Police Department.

Kinne reported that when a semi tractor trailer struck a power pole in the area of West Ninth and B at about 11 a.m., a gas meter and a power meter were pulled out from a building that houses Coyote County radio station, at 106 W. Eighth. A police vehicle responding to that incident struck a motorcyle, with that accident handled by the Nebraska State Patrol.

Within the next few minutes, in the two-block radius of where the power line came down, two more vehicle accidents occurred, Kinne said. One came about when a vehicle pulled out from the parking lot at Casey's General Store at 704 West B and struck another vehicle on B Street and another accident that is still being investigated, Kinne said.

The first collision cause the power to automatically lock out a breaker at the sub station, said Brian Burh of Nebraska Public Power District, with 385 customers without electricity for about 40 minutes.

Another 14 customers were without power until 8:30 p.m., he said, so crews could set new power poles, transformers and wire in the area.

Fire Chief Marc Harpham said the area around the accident was isolated to keep people from entering the area. When one power line goes down, it causes stress on other power lines, he said, and so it was imperative to keep the area safe.

Buhr said the important thing is that no one was harmed.

"It was an unfortunate incident for the truck driver but the bottom line is that no got hurt in the situation," he said. Buhr also commended the McCook City Fire Department and Police for their swift response to the incident.

"The police were down there barricading the scene along with the Fire Department," he said. "They always do an excellent job in this type of situation and helped immensely."

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  • has anybody listened to the calls on a scanner? Mccook fire doesnt have a clue..

    -- Posted by big32bubba on Fri, Jul 10, 2009, at 1:29 PM
  • Big32 - you need to understand that most of our fire department are made up of volunteers. You also have to understand that there were 4 separate incidents within an hours time. They can only do so much and from what I saw (because my business was affected), the fire department, the police department and the State Patrol all worked together and it was settled within a few hours. I think they did a great job and we're all lucky to have them. Why don't you get a clue and have a little respect for those who are protecting us the best they can.

    -- Posted by FNLYHOME on Fri, Jul 10, 2009, at 3:00 PM
  • I'm with Rural Citizen. I have a very good friend on the department and another good friend with the police department. Them and all of the other members and volunteers of the Fire and Police Departments put their lives on the line to take care of us should we be unfortunate to be in an accident or need their services in any way. But thank God we have these wonderful individuals who put themselves out there for us each and every day. Thank you to those that serve us!!!

    -- Posted by susanne_1989 on Fri, Jul 10, 2009, at 10:05 PM
  • Hey bubba why dont you do something and DONATE your time to help out instead of judge others that do DONATE their time along with taking off of work ( loss of money ) just to be criticized by idiots like you. I am gonna stop now before i get really irritated.

    -- Posted by kman on Sat, Jul 11, 2009, at 3:21 PM
  • ONLY IN NEBRASKA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MUST BE A SLOW NEWS DAY!

    -- Posted by ace1965 on Mon, Jul 13, 2009, at 3:12 PM
  • I donate my time I am a volunteer has anybody taken the time to look at the true response times they report? they are asking for a grant for the city fire dept that does not include the rural volunteers. do your own investigation.

    -- Posted by big32bubba on Thu, Jul 16, 2009, at 8:15 PM
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