Of all the negative perceptions, and frequent misunderstandings, surrounding the simple snake, add one more to the growing list of why most people — excluding reptile enthusiasts, herpetologists and zookeepers — don’t especially care for them.
On Saturday, July 10, at about 10 p.m., the lights went out on about 1,300 Cleveland Utilities customers served by the Payne Gap Substation which is located off South Lee Highway. When repair crews arrived, they discovered the remains of a snake — about four to four-and-a-half feet in length — that had found its way atop a set of high-voltage 69 kv station breakers.
The reptile didn’t survive the encounter nor did the substation, according to Dennis Daniel, manager of CU’s Electric Division. Parts have been ordered to replace those short-circuited by the curious snake which personnel believe was on the prowl for birds.
“We have heard of other utilities having snake problems, but this was a first for us,” Daniel said. “Other than the outage itself, the flash did cause minor damage to the bushings on the 69 kv station breaker, but not severe enough to keep us from placing it back in service.”
He added, “We have already ordered new bushings that should arrive in a few weeks and our substation personnel will make that replacement.”
Daniel acknowledged CU crew members on the scene were not snake experts — nor enthusiasts — but someone did suggest the deceased reptile “might” have been a form of rat snake.
“You have heard me talk about squirrels, lightning, trees, automobile accidents and wind, but until that night never had we experienced a snake taking out a substation,” Daniel said. “While we try to avoid any outages, this one was rather unique.”
Surprisingly or not, Daniel said in his 38 years with Cleveland Utilities, “I don’t believe we have ever experienced an outage for the reason this one occurred.”
In proactive fashion, just as the public utility has done with past incidents involving furry rodents, CU will await the arrival of the new bushings. And, “ … in the meantime, we will be looking at ways to prevent a reoccurrence of this type outage.”
Power was restored to CU customers about 40 minutes after the serpent doused their lights.
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