A bird building a nest caused a fire on the switcher box on this electricity pole, cutting power to parts of Benalla for several hours.
Photo by
Simon Ruppert
More than 800 Benalla homes and businesses were without power for two and a half hours on Wednesday, July 24.
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Around 8.30am, the CFA was called to the corner of Smythe and Mackellar Sts where a switcher box on a power pole was on fire.
While flames were quickly extinguished, the electrical equipment was offline, with power cables no longer connected.
An AusNet spokesperson said it turned out a nesting bird had caused all the problems.
Benalla CFA extinguished the fire then remained on the scene until traffic control arrives, allowing Ausnet to repair the damage.
Photo by
Simon Ruppert
“A bird had built a nest with some wire next to the switcher box, causing the power outage at 8.30 yesterday morning,” the spokesperson said.
“This impacted around 800 AusNet customers. All customers had their power restored just after 11am.”
Firefighters remained on the scene until AusNet could arrange traffic control so a repair could be undertaken.
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