Pole Fire Shuts Down Xpressway!

Lunch was delayed today for the Gladwyne Firefighters as the company was dispatched to Waverly Road and River Road for a telephone pole on fire. Upon arrival of Engine 24 it was determined that the pole was burning approximately 40 feet in the air just below the primary PECO wires. The much larger problem at hand was that the top of the pole housed the high voltage lines that run from River Road up to the PECO sub-station in Gladwyne run over top of the Xpressway. The pole had been burning for a while as there was a large hole (12 inches in diameter) burned completely through the pole. The pole was in serious danger of breaking and dropping the high voltage lines down onto the Xpressway. Much to the dismay of the State Police and the traveling motorists, the Xpressway was shut down in both directions for approximately 25 minutes while PECO shut down the power and secured the hazard. Thank you to Lower Merion Police, West Conshohocken Police and Pennsylvania State Police who aided in the closing of the Xpressway. As a side note the PECO guy got to be the first person to "squirt" water from the New Engine 24!