Monday, June 27, 2011

Thieves steal copper ground wire, cut power to 3,800 homes (Yahoo! News)

3,800 residents of Cranberry, Pennsylvania were without power yesterday and into the evening after thieves broke into a local power station and stole a large amount of copper ground wire. To gain access to the station, the robbers cut a large hole into a barbed wire fence surrounding the facility. Affected residents were powerless for the majority of the day.

The copper wire was connected to a large transformer before it was taken. When the cord was cut, a large arc explosion lit up the area, alerting the neighborhood that something was amiss. Workers at the station said the culprits could have been easily killed by their attempt at a quick payday, and police have been searching local hospitals for recently-admitted burn victims.

First Energy, the company that owns the substation, said that the theft is the 4th in the last week. The other incidents occurred at various other power facilities within 10 miles of the Cranberry location. Copper has become a prized target for adventurous thieves due to its increasing value against the dollar, which currently stands at around 4 dollars per pound. The seedy individuals who stole the wire clearly knew what they were doing, making them an order of magnitude more troublesome than the woman who accidentally cut off the internet to nearly all of Armenia.

(Source)

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