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  • MARK SCHLACHTENHAUFEN | THE EDMOND SUN Workers trim tree branches near power lines along Second Street across from the University of Central Oklahoma Tuesday morning. They were working hours after strong winds knocked down light poles at an Edmond car dealership.

    trimming 6.jpg

  • MARK SCHLACHTENHAUFEN | THE EDMOND SUN Workers trim tree branches near power lines along Second Street across from the University of Central Oklahoma Tuesday morning.

    trimming 4.jpg

Discussion

February 22, 2012

City trims trees to prep for future storms

Mark Schlachtenhaufen The Edmond Sun

EDMOND — Thunderstorms may produce winds strong enough to down powerlines; earlier this week a storm blew down light poles at an Edmond car dealership.

Powerlines also come down when too much ice collects on them or when enough ice collects on trees, causing them to fall.

It’s not a matter of if but when the next winter storm or severe thunderstorm arrives.

Edmond Electric Director Glenn Fisher said the city-owned utility has a reliability rating of 99.98 percent, and a big reason behind that success is its tree trimming program, which lessens the risk of downed power lines that cause outages.  

Edmond Electric distributes power from the Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority within its 90 square mile territory via about 550 miles of overhead and 650-700 miles of underground electric lines, Fisher said.

On Tuesday, workers with Looks Great Services, Inc., were trimming tree branches around powerlines along Second Street across from the University of Central Oklahoma campus. The work is part of a systematic trimming rotation in place to keep power flowing during severe weather events, said Jesse Martin, a utility forester technician for Edmond.

“Our goal is to improve the reliability of our system and to reduce the number of tree-related outages,” Martin said.

Edmond has a three-year rotation in which trimming occurs in all of the circuits, Martin said. Major parts of the city’s system include substations, each of which serve up to 10,000 customers, distribution feeder circuits, which serves about a fourth of the customers served by substations, branch circuits, which tap the main distribution feeder circuits and individual circuits, the service wires extending from the power supply to a single house or business, according to information posted on the city’s website.

New York state-based Looks Great Services, Inc., subcontracted through Arbor Masters’ Oklahoma City location, got the fiscal year 2011-12 $780,000 contract simply because the company submitted a bid lower than local companies, Martin said. Some of the funds go to hourly crews that work on jobs as they crop up, he said.

Some residents don’t like the aesthetics of trimming trees around power lines, an aspect that has to be considered in the context of the inconvenience of losing power during severe weather, Martin said. The city continuously efforts to educate customers about related issues and jobs in their area, he said.

For residents wanting to plant trees near power lines, the city recommends certain species that do not grow as tall as others, he said. They include the Oklahoma redbud and crapemyrtle.

Martin said the city is creating a utility compatible landscape area on the west side of Bryant just north of Ninth Street as part of its Arbor Day Celebration. City personnel will be planting trees at 10 a.m. on March 31 at this location. It will be an opportunity for anybody who would like to see a few of the suitable species, to take part in the planting or to just learn the proper planting techniques, Martin said.

For more information about planting trees near power lines, call Jesse Martin at 359-4739 or the city’s Urban Forestry Department at 359-4799. For more information about the department visit edmondok.com/index.aspx

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marks@edmondsun.com | 341-2121, ext. 108

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