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From The Morning Call
-- September 1, 2005
Med-Ed: Bath fires linked to settlement
Electric company says its equipment was functioning
normally.
By Bill
Tattersall
Of The Morning
Call
An investigation by the Met-Ed
electrical company has found that ground settlement may have caused or
contributed to the three home fires Saturday in Bath.
''Preliminary
results indicate that all Met-Ed equipment was functioning normally at the
time the fires occurred,'' said a news release from Marc Troutman, area
manager for Met-Ed.
The fires damaged 407, 408 and 409 Spyglass
Hill. A neighbor and a Met-Ed crew first saw smoke coming from 408
Spyglass Hill around noon.
Joe Andrews of 406 Spyglass Hill said he
noticed a very loud vibration in his electrical box and in the power cable
coming into his house about 10:30 a.m. Saturday. He called Met-Ed, which
sent a worker about noon. It was then they both noticed the smoke at 408
Spyglass Hill.
Troutman's release states that excessive ground
settlement may be responsible for pulling and stressing the electric
service wire and meter base away from the outside of the house where the
first fire appears to have originated.
The release also states that
the builder is responsible to backfill and tamp the trench where the
electric service line runs to the house at regular intervals to eliminate
this kind of hazard.
Richard Krasley of Tuskes Homes, Bethlehem,
said Tuskes was the builder of the homes, but would not
comment.
''I just got back from a trip and was not even aware there
was a fire, but without seeing anything from Met-Ed or anyone else, I do
not have any comment,'' he said.
As a precautionary measure, Met-Ed
is going to open and inspect all the meter bases in the most recent
section of the Park Ridge Development on Spyglass Hill.
If
excessive tension is found at any home, Met-Ed will not restore power to
that house until a qualified electrician adjusts the meter base alignment
and an inspection has been completed and received by Met-Ed.
The
borough of Bath is keeping abreast of the investigation.
''We just
want to make sure everything is safe and get to the bottom of this,'' Judy
Danko, Bath borough manager said. ''We have left the investigation to
Met-Ed and the insurance companies, but we are monitoring their
progress.''
Met-Ed says that warning signs of settlement that
homeowners can look for are ground settling around the house; new openings
or gaps at down spouts; skewing of electric meter base alignment; a
settling or shifting of gas utility lines to the house.
If
homeowners see any of these signs, they should contact a qualified
electrician immediately.
william.tattersall@mcall.com
610-861-3633
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