Traveling home from a spring vacation with his family, operations manager Bob Doonan jumped into action when he saw a fire spreading across a garage in Kenosha County.
“We stopped for dinner, and a customer in the restaurant said they saw smoke coming from a garage across the street,” Bob said.
The homeowner was trying to extinguish the fire with a garden hose, but the flames were already out of control. The fire department was on the way, so Bob made sure to call We Energies to inform his co-workers that live wires were in the path of the flames.
“The service wire started sparking as it was being burned down. I saw that the wires were still energized and warned the first responders to avoid the area for their safety,” Bob explained.
Bob created a safe zone with traffic cones he had in his truck. He stayed at the location waiting for his colleagues to arrive to disconnect the power.
According to a news release from the Pleasant Prairie Fire Department, crews battled heavy fire conditions and an energized power line down across the roadway. Crews navigated around the power line and “offensively made a fire attack.”
We Energies crews quickly responded after Bob’s call and were able to safely disconnect power.
The Pleasant Prairie Fire Department said three firefighters were injured when the garage collapsed. One firefighter was transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, and two other firefighters were evaluated on-scene and later seen at the hospital and released.
Safety at heart
At We Energies, we care for our people, our customers and our communities with safety at the heart of our business. We celebrate employees who keep safety at heart, as they reinforce our safety culture and take action to prevent injuries at work and in their communities.