Gunfire Vandalism Risks Increasing

Gunfire vandalism could be a greater threat to reliability as more utilities add complex fiber optic communications lines to their systems, co-op officials warn.

“Shooting at electrical equipment is vandalism and could be deadly,” said Bob Franklin, manager of electric operations for Choptank Electric Cooperative’s Salisbury district. “If an insulator is broken or damaged, anyone coming in contact with the pole could be electrocuted.”

The Denton, Md.-based co-op has recently mounted a public education campaign to inform its consumer-members of the risks birdshot and other ammunition fired at power lines pose to shooters, utility personnel, pets and people.

“We’ve been reminding members that they need to be aware that firing in the direction of power lines can damage fragile equipment,” said Franklin.

“The glass elements inside of the insulated fiber cables are delicate. In some cases, repairs to a damaged section can cost thousands of dollars.”

Co-ops have been coping with gunfire-related outages for decades. On Oct. 9, 1949, a broadcast of the fifth game of the World Series was interrupted by silence for some members of New Hampshire Electric Cooperative.

“Apparently a pretty good marksman with a .22 rifle shot the insulators off nine consecutive poles,” a staffer wrote in the Plymouth-based co-op’s newsletter. “About twenty miles of line and service to 65 people went dead.” Co-op officials described the use of insulators for target practice as “needlessly harmful.”

Recently, another co-op that asked not to be identified dispatched a crew to replace a broken pole along its right-of-way that was cut in half and hanging from the wires.

According to sources who examined the damage, the .45-caliber rounds embedded in the pole were fired by a Thompson submachine gun, or a similar weapon, at velocities capable of severing the pole.

In some states, separate laws have been passed to discourage damage to utility assets. A Minnesota statute enacted in 2011 declares it a Class 1 felony subject to up to five years imprisonment and fines of up to $10,000.

But as more co-ops add modern communications technology to their systems, the threats to utility equipment posed by birdshot and other ammunition have increased, according to some officials.

Some co-ops have already seen fiber optic communications lines accidently damaged by errant shots presumably aimed at game birds and waterfowl.

“Unlike conductor, which is typically bare wire, communications line is insulated and a small break in a line can dramatically degrade its performance,” said Choptank Electric’s Franklin.