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  1. #1
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    Aug 2002
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    Default Burned copper thief

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    Would-be copper thief badly burned at PSE substation


    Posted by John de Leon



    A 32-year-old woman was badly burned Saturday while attempting to steal copper wire from an electrical substation west of Enumclaw, according to the King County Sheriff's Office.

    At about 5:30 a.m. Saturday, Puget Sound Energy crews went to the substation in the 41900 block of 180th Avenue Southeast following a power outage in the area. The crews found the badly burned woman inside the fenced area.

    The Enumclaw woman was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center with life-threatening burns, the Sheriff's Office said.

    Evidence at the scene indicates the woman and an accomplice were stealing copper wire from the substation, according to the Sheriff's Office. The woman was on top of the one of the transformers when she was burned by an energized circuit, the Sheriff's Office said.

    The two would-be thieves cut a hole in a cyclone fence that surrounds the substation.

    The accomplice fled before the PSE crews arrived at the substation.


    http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm..._badly_bu.html

    Rumor has it she was on top of station transformer (the big one) and went phase to ground (12.5) and knocked out the hi side. The guy fled with the copper and didn't call 911.

  2. #2

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    When will these IDIOTS learn????

  3. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by 230kv_barehand View Post
    When will these IDIOTS learn????
    I'm thinking never. As long as the price of metals are high, it seems they stop at nothing to steel it.
    If a person has the mentality to leave someone for dead because they did'nt want to get arrested for stealing, and still takes the copper with him, we're dealing with people that will never learn.
    What is your companies doing to try and curve pole ground theft?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
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    Northern Michigan
    Posts
    1,716

    Default Signs of evolution?

    Looks like thinning of the herd to me.
    Note to self, just because it pops into my head doesn't mean it should come out of my mouth.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
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    Wisconsin
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    Quote Originally Posted by hotwiretamer View Post
    I'm thinking never. As long as the price of metals are high, it seems they stop at nothing to steel it.
    If a person has the mentality to leave someone for dead because they did'nt want to get arrested for stealing, and still takes the copper with him, we're dealing with people that will never learn.
    What is your companies doing to try and curve pole ground theft?
    just before I retired last year there was a policy at our outfit to staple every six inches or so as high as one can reach.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    northwest washington
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    The following news release was issued this afternoon.


    Puget Sound Energy Asks Citizens to Call 911 to Report Suspicious Activity at Neighborhood Substations, Utility Poles and Other Equipment

    National Night Out Provides Opportunity to Make Citizens Aware of Danger Copper Thefts Pose to Themselves and Others

    Bellevue, Wash. (Aug. 1, 2011) – With tomorrow’s National Night Out activities bringing citizens and their local law enforcement agencies together to create safer communities, Puget Sound Energy requests citizens to be alert to suspicious activity around their neighborhood power substations and to immediately report it by calling 911. Doing so, could save a life, prevent power disruptions and keep utility costs in check.
    In Enumclaw on July 30, a woman suspected of attempting to steal copper wire was critically injured with third-degree burns to her arms and face when she came into contact with high voltage equipment after she and an accomplice cut through an 8-foot-high barbed wire topped cyclone fence and entered a PSE substation. The injured woman was discovered by PSE servicemen, who then called for medical aid, as they responded to a power outage caused by the attempted theft.
    “Thieves who enter substations to remove copper wiring and vandalize equipment risk serious injury or death from these high-voltage facilities,” said Dave Foster, manager of corporate security for PSE. “In addition to putting themselves and the public in danger, the vandals can cause power outages and tens of thousands of dollars in repair costs, which ultimately impacts customer bills.”
    According to Foster, as a result of the higher copper prices and current economic conditions, PSE is seeing a significant increase in the number of copper thefts. Since August 2010, more than 50 copper thefts have occurred at PSE’s substations and on utility poles.
    “We want everyone to be alert and to call 9-1-1 if they see any suspicious activity around substations and other utility equipment,” said Sgt. John Urquhart with the King County Sheriff’s Office.
    PSE has joined forces with utilities and law enforcement agencies in the Puget Sound region to collaborate on ways to stop the copper thefts. “Our greatest opportunity for curbing copper theft is in working closely with law enforcement agencies, our local communities and the scrap metal dealers,” said Foster.
    PSE has also taken steps to make substations more secure with patrols, motion-activated lighting, identification coding on copper wire and a newly-installed video-alarm system that alerts local police departments when a burglary is underway at a substation. The utility operates 430 substations in nine counties, primarily in Western Washington.
    “Public safety is our primary concern,” noted Foster. “We need to make sure our substations and equipment are safe for our employees, our customers and the general public. We believe in using all available security methods to apprehend and convict those responsible for these thefts.”
    PSE suggests the following steps to prevent copper theft and be safe around electric facilities:

    · Report suspicious activity around an electric substation, poles or other electrical equipment. Call 911.

    · Report information about copper theft to the police.

    · Never enter or touch equipment inside a substation.

    · Stay away from power lines and anything touching a power line.

    For more information, visit a PSE booth at one of the following National Night Out events:

    · Bellevue at the Crossroads Market Place, 3:30 - 6:30 p.m., on the eastside of Crossroads Mall, 800 block of 156th Avenue Northeast

    § Lacey, 6 -10 p.m., at the Horizon Pointe Park, 5700 Balustrade Blvd. SE

    § Oak Harbor, 3 - 8 p.m., at the Windjammer Park, 1600 S. Beeksma Drive

    § Renton, 4 - 7:30 p.m., at Earlington Park, 272 Thomas Ave. SE

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
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    N.E. Mass.
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    Quote Originally Posted by duckhunter View Post
    Looks like thinning of the herd to me.
    I agree! Sympathy is very low!
    National Grid = Retired! US Army vet. 68 - 70
    As of April of 2010 I quit smoking! It's been hard but so far no butts! I am now an X smoker!

  8. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by T-Man View Post
    just before I retired last year there was a policy at our outfit to staple every six inches or so as high as one can reach.
    We've tried that in our rural areas, and they still will take the time to remove that copper, 6" at a time! There's evidence of them backing up to the pole, hooking up to the pole ground and driving off, pulling most of the pole ground with them. In some cases all the way to the neutral!
    Persistent bastards!!

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    northwest washington
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    http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2011/a...ing-copper-at/

    NORTH MASON —Rolling around the gravel of a 115,000-volt electrical station, the two men methodically snip off any copper they can find.

    The pair have risked life and limb to break into Mason County Public Utilities District No. 3's Collins Lake substation — on a Wednesday afternoon in broad daylight.

    They were in and out in 14 minutes — yet they did about $10,000 in damages July 27 that crews are still working to repair.

    And the reward for the heist? Maybe $200.

    Obviously, there's something that's driving these guys," said Joel Myer, Mason County PUD spokesman, "because it's really not worth the risk."

    The incident, caught on the PUD's cameras, is likely the most brazen Myer has seen in a few years. But around Puget Sound and the nation, thieves are going to great risks to get at copper, a commodity with a price that's exploded recently.

    Copper prices had nearly quadrupled in two years, reaching a high of about $4.62 a pound on the New York Mercantile Exchange in February. That was largely due to demand driven by China, the world's largest copper user, according to The Wall Street Journal.

    It has come down slightly, trading this week around $4.36 per pound.

    Used widely by utilities, the metal is being stolen on the Kitsap Peninsula at an increasing pace.

    In a period from mid-June to late July, substations belonging to Puget Sound Energy in Port Orchard have been hit four times; ones in Bremerton have been broken into twice.

    PSE's coverage area has seen 14 break-ins in the past week alone. In two cases, severe burns have come to the thieves, according to Martha Monfried, a PSE spokeswoman, who calls copper thievery an "epidemic."

    "Who would jeopardize their life to go into a substation ... to steal 25 to 30 pounds of wire?" Monfried wondered.

    Scott Wilson, Kitsap County sheriff's spokesman, said it's unlikely that anyone outside of a person desperate for quick cash — likely to buy drugs — would resort to the "extreme risk" that is breaking into a place where electric current flows at hundreds of thousands of volts.

    Thieves take the metals to any shop that will take them — but those shops are supposed to adhere to a state law that requires a photo ID for those exchanging them for cash.

    Levi Taylor of Navy City Metals said that anyone paid more than $30 must be written a check and has to wait 10 days for payment.

    Around the nation, about 97 percent of utilities have endured some kind of copper theft in the past year, amounting to about 48,000 incidents, Monfried said.

    Of those incidents, 29 people were killed, 42 injured and $52 million in damages were reported, Monfried said, citing a safety survey.

    The thieves don't only endanger themselves. Often a hole is cut into a fence that, if left exposed, could risk someone accidentally wandering into the substation, Monfried said.

    Myer explained that because the crooks are taking grounding wires meant to channel electricity into the earth in case of emergency, the removal of that contingency means electricity might go elsewhere — into a person, perhaps, resulting in a life-threatening injury.

    Puget Sound Energy isn't giving thieves a second chance, Monfried said. All wiring replaced in substations now is copper-coated steel wire, worth far less money. They're also installing motion activated cameras at the stations to alert authorities.

    It's not just utilities that thieves are targeting, Monfried points out. Schools, foreclosed homes and anywhere with a supply of copper has a bull's-eye, she said.

    Monfried asks that anyone who sees a break-in to a substation to immediately call 911.

    "We've gotta catch these people," she said. "Let them know it's not worth risking their lives, or the lives of others."


    Read more: http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2011/a...#ixzz1UDwl5VPf

  10. #10

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    When I was working in the cellular industry we had more sites that I can remember that had been stripped of any copper with-in reach. And sometimes not with-in reach, the thieves climbed up a few towers a ways to get coax and grounds. Another time they grabbed more than copper... we had a trailer with skidsteer parked in a compound that was hit. Much to our surprise almost a year later the skidsteer was found and still in good shape.

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