Safety concerns held for truck that hit electricity network, causing major power outage
Serious safety concerns held for a truck that hit an electricity network on Wednesday morning and likely caused a massive power outage have been quelled after the driver came forward.
The crash is suspected to have caused more than 27,000 homes in Perth's southern suburbs to lose power across 50 suburbs.
Businesses, schools and hospitals have also been impacted, with black outs reported at All Saints College, Bullcreek shopping centre and Fiona Stanley Hospital.
Western Power head of safety Andrew Shaw feared the truck driver did not realise the vehicle's tyres were at risk of exploding over the next 24 hours.
"We’re concerned that the vehicle could be susceptible to a process called tyre pyrolysis which causes the gasses inside the tyres to expand and potentially explode," he said.
“The truck should be quarantined immediately for a period of 24 hours following the contact and suspected electricity flashover that would have occurred.”
After a public appeal, the driver came forward and the truck was quarantined.
The crash was discovered following investigations into the major power outage.
Mr Shaw said emergency crews originally believed the cause to be a lightning strike, following witness reports and a severe weather warning over parts of Perth.
"Originally the cause of the outage was a suspected lightning strike at our substation in Cannington following customer reports of a loud bang and flash in the area," he said.
"Subsequent investigations by our crews found damaged cables and scorch marks on the ground near sand that appeared to be freshly delivered."
Western Power would remind any driver who hits the network to remain in the vehicle if it is safe to do so and call us immediately on 13 13 51 so an Emergency Response crew can attend.
A Western Power spokesman said, as of 10am, crews had reconnected thousands of homes, with 13,000 still in the dark.
"Western Power is responding to an unplanned outage that is currently affecting approximately 13,000 in the Murdoch and Southern River area," he said.
"Earlier this morning just over 27,000 homes and businesses in the suburbs of Bateman, Leeming, Bull Creek, Riverton and Murdoch were impacted but network operations has been able to back feed 14,000 customers.
"The cause is believed to be lightning activity in the area that has triggered safety devices within the substations in the area.
"We appreciate that being without power is an inconvenience and we ask for customer patience while we inspect the network for damage."