Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The attempted theft of a copper power line knocked electricity out to Sweet Home and two other substations in the area on late in the evening on Nov. 29 for more than an hour.
Pacific Power employees reported the attempted theft to police after restoring power to Sweet Home.
A vehicle caught a ground line at 47th and Green River roads and pulled the line into a main power line, causing damage to the power pole, according to the report to Sweet Home Police.
Police are continuing an investigation into the attempted theft, Detective Jeff Lynn said. “Apparently someone tried to hook onto the copper ground cable on one of the poles near 47th and Green River.”
Copper thefts and metal thefts in general have been a continual problem, Lynn said. Most recently, aluminum has been popular.
“It’s a continual battle because the price of metal’s so high right now,” Lynn said.
Burcham’s Metals in Albany reported that the price of metals depends on what’s brought in. Copper wire prices depend on whether it’s insulated and the dimensions of the copper inside the cable. Power cables, even with insulation, are running more than $1 per pound. Aluminum sheets are running around 40 cents per pound. Auto and truck wheels are running 50 cents per pound.
Power to 6,760 customers went out at 10:51 p.m. and was restored at 11:59 p.m., Pacific Power Spokesman Deston Noakes said. The line damaged was a transmission line, and the damage caused breakers at three substations, including Sweet Home, to shut down.
“They didn’t get away with the wire,” Noakes said. The attempted theft was “extremely serious. You can die (from it). These people are also exposing other people to danger by having live wires loose.”
The circuit breakers shutting down the substations help keep things safe, though, Noakes said.
While power was out, police and firefighters traveled the city in search of a reported accident and several reports of transformers blowing. Emergency workers did not find any accidents during the outage. Police concentrated on patrolling the darkened downtown business district and residential areas during the outage.