With spring seeding underway for many, SaskPower is advising farmers to be vigilant and watch for overhead lines.
The warning comes after a power line was contacted by an auger earlier this week, knocking out power to about 9,300 customers in the Lanigan area.
SaskPower’s Scott McGregor said that is very obviously a dangerous situation that can lead to several different outcomes.
“Hitting a power line is dangerous, you have a lot of electricity right there, and right now because conditions are dry across much of Saskatchewan there is also the risk of a grass fire or forest fire starting, so the risks are very real,” he said.
Yesterday a farmer hit an overhead line with a grain bin hauler around Dafoe, SK. Luckily there were no injuries to the farmer. But serves as a big reminder to request an overhead line move when hauling large equipment. #LookUpAndLive #CHST #SkPowerSafe pic.twitter.com/sn6avRT4Db
— SaskPower (@SaskPower) May 13, 2020
McGregor says SaskPower’s website has a page on safety that includes ways to avoid power lines, and what to do if you hit a power line with your equipment.
“One of the big things that we try to tell people is that if you come into contact with a power pole or a line the first thing you should do is call us, we’ll come and make sure everything is safe and okay before you get out of the vehicle,” McGregor said.
In the past two weeks SaskPower says there have been 38 calls related to farming incidents.
Last year power lines were hit on 327 occasions.
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