Natural Disaster .. No Power .. Darkness .. A gift of love

Authors Note.. This is a work in process .. so bear with me.. photos will be added later, due to the fact they are on several devices. Whichever one was charged at that time. This will be long..

As many are aware the was a storm that came through the New England October 29. The result of which put over 15,000 people without power. This is a conservative estimate I do not have accurate numbers due to limited communications. I do know that power crews came in to help from as far away as Illinois to assist.

I have an 1986 3,000 watt generator so hooked up some water filled the tubs water (to flush) and put a few gallons on kitchen counter ran a couple of extension cords to freezer and fridge. Yes i threw No problem we are camping for a few days. Tuesday nite, Halloween, about 8pm power comes back. pick everything up we are good to go

Wednesday morning about 7 am, getting 12 year old ready for school, everything is fine, all of the sudden EVERY light in house comes on get to about double brightness and BANG.. No power. As I was walking around checking things out i smell electrical smoke. (First, it smells nothing like woodsmoke which i like. It smells to me like burning plastic and hair) Go and check the panel box, that fine. I come back up the stairs and stop in the Living/Stove room and I see smoke at the main power disconnect. Grab extinguisher put it out.

Wife obviously nervous so I call fire chief on his cell tell him we had a small fire, it is out, please come and check out house for safety when he is not busy. 5 minutes, 7 fireman, 2 trucks, all gear, lights and sirens. Take infrared cameras and check temps in walls of all rooms in house it out. Before they are finished, a power company representative comes to house and takes my meter and says it is going back for testing. Fireman are leaving i say goodbye and thank you. Power representative looks at me and says our company still have 10,000 people without power you will be fixed no sooner than 9,998 best case is 7 days away. We are at about 10 am Wednesday Nov 1.

OK, step 1 emergency assess situation, I live on less than 20 miles from Canadian Border, its below freezing what do we do. Options call insurance file claim go to hotel room, PROS no stress, family safe. CONS no hotels convenient to both wife's work and daughters school additional driving minimum if an hour, what about pets, if pipes freeze and burst between freezing water and mold in walls not good. Stick it out. keep power and water on, I got a wood stove we are warm. I stay. Needs generator None available in VT Upstate NY or NH

Call friends, I got some really good friends, Later come to find out had MANY more I did not know about!

In an effort to be concise, (i know really, this thing is pages now have not added a pic yet )

I spent weds getting generator and sent girls (wife daughter and dog) to friends house at Jay Peak for a 2 nites 3 days. so i could set up the wiring up the house, water, kitchen lights phones fridge freezer... essential and looking for an electrician, i got an electrician (try getting one to answer phone with 10,000 people with no power) on friday nite he said breaker was good for 25,000 volts it fried open and welded shut you need new service from pole to house about 350 feet at least 4 thousand ok home owners insurance claim. Filed it 8 am Monday morning Nov 6th, ok send photos, done, yup your covered fine, weds i am looking for approval of electrical estimate. Well the expenses are going to be my rep 1 limit.. you get rep 2. Fine will you cover electrician, I need complete breakdown of cost of every part fine, done, thursaday.. Will you cover electrician? well the estimate is for a 200 amp service you only had a 100 we will only pay for 100 we need an estimate of a 100 amp FINE.. Call Electrician (he is only one on my side) its 2 pm he drops everything and faxes it to him at 3 I call him at 330 to see if he got it and i get go ahead. Insurance rep has left for the day early for holiday weekend ... Its Thurs 11/9 or 12 days without power SCR%%W it I need power I give go ahead!

sit down with wife day before our anniversary (11/11/11 at 11 am as in.. I only doing this 1 time... she is the one.. plus its really easy to remember) Ok this is our financial situation we are spending 115 dollars a day generators and gas alone.. this is our anniversary present I know I said last year for 5 years when we got a new septic system and I would make it up to you this year.. Im so sorry..

At this point i am sore, over tired, haven't slept well in 2 weeks.. its hard to sleep after you've had a fire and on generators,.. it was done as safely as possible in an emergency situation but certainly not to code and who really knows if the wires in walls are safe.. I am losing my battle to smile.. Ive got some physical health issues (who dosent) I rarely talk about but walking can be a challenge and the pain well its there.. DARK DAYS

We are ready for power Power company insists they have 5 days for a new residential set up
State electrical inspector (only needed when fire) your good Tuesday
Power company inpects wednesday No different outside panel needed WEDS its done call then back
Thursday they say we have 5 days call Public Service board
Friday 11/17 at 10 am we get new transformer we have POWERanother 4 or 5 hours generators off everything back in the Panel Box.. Peace and quiet has
returned its been 20 days ... Not to bad people in Puerto Rico have been 2 months

THE RUSE

I get a PM from Well Seasoned, nothing odd there.. He has got an Inspection out by me on Monday can he stop by? Sure, I missed his quick GTG a few weeks back because my lil brother fell 35 feet off a roof.. (he is alive and healing) I am kind of excited, wanted to meet him.
Get another hey Dawn (MISS Well Seasoned) has day off can she come along? .. Sure happy to have you both.. great will be there Monday morning.. Great push some appts later have tenants open apartments to clean 4 furnaces you know clear the schedule.

They arrive a little late as its snowing.. I am thinking I got an FHC moderator coming to the house.. give them a quick house tour, Show him the Woodstock IS. my decks getting ready to show him the stacks.. I dont know i got to keep my FHC card.. Backwoods Savage calls not happen a lot but do i clue in Nope.. Asks if he can talk to Well Seasoned I say sure.. Did i even think how did he know he was there? I am not usually this clueless.

Well Seasoned hands me a card, I say thanks, i stick it on the table and take them out to see my decks (Well Seasoned and i had a PM a few month ago about Decks) we come back inside to warm up. Backwoods Savage calls back Talks to Well Seasoned thats odd..

Well Seasoned tells me to open the card.. I do.

I am happy i was sitting down or i would have been on the floor I wipe my eyes.
This wonderful group has had a PM going for weeks. Most have been a hundred members in it. Enclosed in the card was a VERY significant check and the screen names of every one in it..

Words cannot express the gratitude i feel, although i will contend it is too generous, as insurance has not issued a check yet.. I humbly accept you generosity. I am FHC for life.
Do not listen to the TV .. kind generous caring people do exist. People who will bend over backwards to help out a friend. This is not a Fairy tale, Stinny annual Christmas message about Matt or an episode of the Walton's.

This is real people in real life there is beauty left in the world and a Majority of those persons are in THIS CLUB!

p.s. I try to keep limited information on the internet. Trying to set a good example for my 12 year old daughter.. so i try to keep photos of myself limited and think I would be ok posting pic of card but will wait for permission IF anyone wants more pics or details PM me

PPS I apologize for the delay in getting up this thread, as some of you are aware.. I am deliberately being vague here. another medical emergency has happened to another member if you want details PM me,

 

Very good post Canadian border VT ....glad you are back up and going in the power dept.

 

this is main disconnect neutral is fried

The construction zone

How rednecks run power drop deadbolt run cords thru it so you can shut door.. Hey it took me a minute to think of it... Brilliant

 

Freaking Awesome, what a great idea.

 

You are more than welcome. Glad things are returning to normal.

 

What a site! This place is truly a mini-Utopia. Hope that insurance check finds you soon and you enjoy the holidays in peace.

 

I don't think most of us could truly understand how hard it is to keep things going for 20 days without power. Not only physically but mentally. Thanks for sharing. I really hope that we have all helped a little with the burden.

 

Good to hear your back on track for the most part! Way to get it done during that whole mess for sure not an easy couple weeks with s ton of set backs! By the way some really fishy stuff going on with your power company there seems odd that wire would burn off the top of your disconnect just out of the blue? Did it get yanked on from outside some how? Or I see you said you ended up with a new transformer, could that have something to do with it and they just didn’t want to say?

 

That is a great solution! I remember runnning generator for 4 days at my old house and the back door was cracked open for the cords - used towels and a blanket to seal out most of the cold air infiltration. But your solution is so much better!

 

In order to test wires had to wait for Power company to take them off pole. Wires are mine pole is power company.. Electrician is testing them I get report.. Nothing in my house generated power. What are chances wire in ground went bad that 12 hour time period vs pole in 89 mph winds with lineman cutting trees with no sleep etc etc caused a line to faik