Serving our members is the top priority of everyone who works at Central Wisconsin Electric Cooperative. While serving our members, though, doing it in a safe manner is another top priority.  

Our linemen take many precautions when they work around power lines. This includes wearing flame retardant clothing, hard hats, and safety glasses. In addition, they also wear special rubber gloves for their hands and rubber sleeves over their arms to help protect them from the electricity flowing through power lines.  

With safety a top priority for the co-op while we serve our members, everyone here at CWEC encourages our members to also be safe around downed power lines. Downed power lines are not limited to the summer months, as weather conditions and car accidents that take down power lines can happen anytime of the year.

If you come upon a downed power line, please stay away from it. Even if the downed power line is not smoking, sparking, or on fire, the power line could still be energized. For that reason, it is imperative that you not touch a downed power line, and do not touch anything that is in contact with the power line. 

We recently had an incident in which a tree fell on a power line, and by the time one of our linemen arrived at the scene, somebody had cut up the tree while it was still on the power line. In this situation, the power line was not smoking, sparking, or on fire. But when our lineman got there, he found that the downed power line was still energized. Luckily, even though the power line was energized, the person who cut up the tree was not injured. Eventually luck can run out, though.

We have great members, and we understand that they like to be as helpful as possible and may have the urge to remove a branch or tree that has fallen on a power line. If you encounter a branch or tree on a downed power line, don’t go near it. Instead, call the co-op at 800-377-2932 or 715-677-2211. We will send a lineman to the scene. Once on the scene, the lineman will be able to assess the situation and make sure the power line is not energized, and then remove the branch or tree. By handling the matter in this way, we help make sure that our members are protected, and the situation can be rectified as safely as possible.

This is such an important thing to remember that we emphasize it during the classroom electricity safety demonstrations we do each year for fourth-grade students at the elementary schools in the CWEC service area. Just as we want all our employees to be safe, we also want all of our members to be safe around electricity. This is why we are asking everyone to stay away from downed power lines.