So today, about an hour into Vocal Jazz practice, the lights started flickering. I was a little concerned because audio equipment and fluctuating power do NOT mix well. I had also seen a few signs around saying that the power to the building would be cut off that morning for an hour, presumably to switch over to the new looking service drop to the building. All of a sudden, someone bursts into the room and says "uhh... the building is on fire.. the generators are sparking... get outside!!!!" So I grab my backpack (with laptop, obviously) and head out the front.
When I get outside, I see sparks and two foot flames shooting out of the weatherhead on the new conduit. It was one of those moments where I thought "damn, I need a camera, cuz this would be awesome on YouTube." After a minute or two of burning, the fire burned through the bottom bend in the conduit and started shooting flame out that as well. Another 5 minutes, and the copper cables finally burn through and the feeder falls out. The sparks and fire shortly subside (since I'm assuming a recloser decided to stay open). Fast forward roughly 15 minutes and the fire department finally shows up. Since the fireworks are over, its now less exciting.
As the fire crew is inspecting the building to say its safe to go back in (since the fire put itself out) I chatted up one of the linemen working on the project. Apparently, they were replacing the underground feeder lines to the building and Minnesota Power had just installed the (now destroyed) pole a day earlier. The pole was only temporary, and the feeder apparently wasn't enough to carry the load of the building. So the copper did what any copper carrying more current than it can handle does; it got really really hot. Then burned through the rubber sheath and arced across the phases.
Since the power to the building was basically destroyed, I decided to take an early lunch (while everyone else stayed behind to continue singing off system).
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