Local families still living in fear of electrical fires
JCP&L to take officials on tour of Hayti substation
BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer

UPPER FREEHOLD - The Jersey Central Power & Light Co. tried to allay residents' fears last week of more Route 524 electrical fires.

Representatives from Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L) appeared before the Township Committee on Oct. 5 to speak about the ongoing electrical problems along Route 524. Residents who have been affected by outages and electrical fires also attended the meeting.

Jerry Riccardi, the JCP&L area manager for 23 municipalities in western Monmouth, Mercer and Middlesex counties, said his company is very concerned about safety and that it has many safeguards in its equipment.

Riccardi said the Hayti substation on Route 524 was operating at 80 percent of its capacity during peak times this year. JCP&L is constructing a new substation at the Matrix warehouse development near Old York Road to take some of the load off Hayti, he said.

"The substation is the heart of the electrical system," Riccardi said.

He described the substation as a big transformer, similar to the transformers that homeowners may see on poles near their houses. The Hayti substation services Route 524 to Chambers Road, and down Old Noah Hunt Road.

While tests are conducted at the substation every month, complete maintenance checks are done every six years. Riccardi said the last complete maintenance check at Hayti took place last November.

JCP&L brought in a lightning arrestor to show the governing body and the audience. Riccardi said that all transformers have these arrestors on them.

If lightning hits a wire, Riccardi said, the arrestor will send the current down to the ground. Sometimes, according to Riccardi, the lightning will do a glancing "blow and jump" over the arrestor.

Riccardi said that if a weather event is predicted, JCP&L holds a conference call to discuss staffing. Crews work 16 hours during such events, with eight hours off. If there is an immediate hazard, a line crew gets dispatched to the scene. Repairs to police and fire facilities, hospitals and the media are first priorities in a storm because of the vital services they provide, he said.

On Feb. 12, a fire engulfed the barn of Bill and Maureen Nevins on Route 524. The barn was destroyed by a fire that erupted when an electrical wire broke from a line in front of the structure.

At the time, Nevins said local firefighters responded to the blaze quickly, but were handicapped because JCP&L employees did not come out to shut off the power.

Allentown's Hope Fire Company Chief Brad Carter said firefighters were at the scene of the barn fire for about four hours before JCP&L employees arrived. While the fire company arrived at 2:12 a.m., he said, JCP&L employees made it to the scene at 6:13 a.m.

Riccardi said that by midnight on Feb. 12, a snowstorm was in full force. He said the call came in to JCP&L at 2:12 a.m. and that all crews were already on emergency calls. A crew headed to the call at 3:48 a.m., according to Riccardi, but due to treacherous road conditions, it was unable to reach the site until after 6 a.m.

Riccardi said the data later showed that there was not enough fault current in the line to activate a protective device. He called it "a high impedance fault," which can occur in all electrical utility companies.

"The wire would continue to burn until we went out and de-energized it," he said.

Route 524 resident Amy Catelli appeared before the Township Committee on Aug. 17, saying that a 7,000-volt electric surge went through her home at 5:30 p.m. on July 22. As a result of the surge, her whole house must be gutted, she said, and her family cannot move back in for six to eight months.

Riccardi said there were numerous lightning strikes in the area on July 22. He said JCP&L received a call at 5:56 p.m. that wires were down, and that a crew arrived by 6:30 p.m. to de-energize them.

"The primary wire fell on the secondary wire, [resulting in] 7,000 volts traveling through people's homes," he said.

Riccardi said the fault current should have caused the breaker to open at the substation, but it did not.

"We determined [that] the controls and mechanical devices had failed," he said.

Riccardi said that JCP&L does not pay for damage claims based on acts of nature or mechanical failure. He said that once the company was aware of the mechanical failure, the problem was immediately repaired.

Deputy Mayor William Miscoski said that the barn fire could have easily spread to the house with the firemen standing right there but unable to do anything because of the arcing wires.

Riccardi said that on a normal day, the JCP&L emergency logs for central New Jersey are about five or six pages. He said that on the night of Feb. 12, they were 34 pages.

"[That storm] was quite significant," he said.

Riccardi claimed that the electrical problems on Route 524 were not unique. He said an act of nature can cause any sort of horror in a neighborhood, and used Hurricane Katrina as an example. He said there was a lot of open space in the area, and that utility poles are often the highest objects.

According to JCP&L records, lightning struck in three places along Route 524 on July 22.

Bill Nevins said the ball of light arcing from the wire on Feb. 12 went as high as or higher than the utility pole.

"There should be something that can shut the power off," he said.

Riccardi said that current, not voltage, causes the protective device to operate, and that he did not know the present rating for the wires at the Nevins property.

Maureen Nevins said that when she appeared before the Township Committee in August, she was told that the township would have its professionals inspect the substation. According to Nevins, however, that still has not yet been done. Near tears, she said her family does not feel safe and that she and her children are often up all night because of their fears.

Riccardi said that he would set up a tour of the Hayti substation with the township engineer and the fire marshal, and that some committee members may also attend.