You have probably seen electric utility company commercials about mylar balloons causing power outages. Today I noticed two or three mylar balloons caught in the utility wires on South Schenley just south of Mahoning Avenue.
I wonder if First Energy will come out to remove the balloons before they cause a power outage.
:-\
I haven't seen any commercials regarding mylar balloons causing power outages.
I did find that "According to FirstEnergy, 132 outages in 2020 were attributed to foil balloons across the company's six state service area, up 25% from 2019." but they make no definition of how many outages are caused by something other than mylar balloons. Now I wonder how many total outages happened in 2020 to get a percentage of the mylar balloon outages.
I remember laying tinsel across my Lionel train tracks under our Christmas tree then turning the train on. I'd try to set up three separate tinsel crossings to get a Snap, Crackle and Pop! Ahh, the good old days. I'm lucky I survived!
First Energy can't come out to fix the problem if they don't know about it. You can report issues like this, or burned out lights on poles, on their website. You need to give a specific location.
Maybe 10 or 15 years ago around the corner from us there was a street light that would cycle on and off every couple minutes. So I called them, mainly because it was right across from a bus stop for grade schoolers on a 35 mph road. I imagine they changed the bulb only because it didn't seem to be fixed.
I don't remember how many follow up calls I made but the person on the phone assured me that it was indeed fixed. I bet it was at least 5 or more years before they fixed it or it just quit cycling on and off itself but regardless of when that took place, it's doing it again.
Honestly if it wasn't so close to houses I'd have probably blasted it with my shotgun shortly after my first call so they had no choice but replace the whole thing. Someone has to keep the kiddies safe.