Power Substation Arc-Fault in Cornell, WI

This is a documentary of events that started at about 10:45 pm Tuesday March 10, 2009 in Cornell, WI. (Yes, I like to talk a lot, to explain what is happening.)

This video shows the effects of the arc fault on the town and our school, and the effect on the servers and network equipment I am charged with shepherding along and protecting from harm.

Freezing rain likely led to a buildup of ice on bare power-line wires causing them to sag down and get close to grounded metal supports, causing random sparking in the strong wind.

This started with a long drawn-out 5-second flickering and dimming of lights at the school was followed by total loss of power. I am the school network administrator working late once again, and just happened to be there to witness this.

I am surprised the power company allowed this constant flickering and sparking to drag on for nearly an hour before power was finally cut to the town. This had the potential to cause brownout failure to all sorts of equipment, though fortunately nothing was damaged at school the next day.

Surrounding areas immediately east of town were not affected after power was finally cut, so the substation with the arcing probably services only the city.