A utility pole fire in Nashville knocked out power to just under 5,000 customers Saturday, and as of late afternoon, about 1,200 homes and businesses were still in the dark while crews worked to finish repairs. NES said it had already restored service to roughly 3,500 affected customers.
The outage was first reported by WSMV, which cited Nashville Electric Service in detailing how the fire disrupted power across the area. The utility's outage map showed 1,246 customers still without power as of 4:39 p.m. Saturday, according to the same report. NES crews, the station noted, were working to restore service to the remaining customers as safely and quickly as possible.
How a Single Pole Fire Cascades Into Thousands of Outages
Pole fires like Saturday's often start with a phenomenon utility workers call tracking, in which moisture combines with dust, road salt, or other debris on a pole's insulators to create an electrical path that channels high voltage and heat directly into wooden crossarms or the pole itself. Per People's Electric Cooperative, the risk of this kind of tracking increases significantly when light rain or high humidity follows a dry stretch of weather.
In nearby Cheatham County two months ago, a downed pole on Ashland City's Main Street knocked out power to 1,600 Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation members, a situation Hoodline covered in its piece on the Ashland City pole failure.
A Utility Managing Over 200,000 Poles
Nashville Electric Service is one of the country's eleven largest public electric utilities, serving more than 470,000 customers across a roughly 700-square-mile territory that covers all of Davidson County and parts of six surrounding Middle Tennessee counties, according to Nashville Electric Service. The utility maintains poles and circuit lines across its service territory.
NES purchases power from the Tennessee Valley Authority, according to Nashville Electric Service.
Infrastructure Scrutiny Since January's Ice Storm
Saturday's outage arrives against the backdrop of a rougher winter for Nashville's grid. A severe ice storm in January cut power to a record peak of about 230,000 NES customers and damaged hundreds of poles across the service area. Restoration involved fewer than 1,100 lineworkers.
In the months since, NES leadership has pursued longer-term fixes. NES planned to begin with a feasibility study of undergrounding the system, and the neighborhoods for a pilot had not been identified, as Hoodline detailed in its report on what it would really cost to bury Nashville's power lines.
Utility management has since introduced plans for short-term commercial paper to help cover interim storm recovery expenses, according to S&P Global.
How to Report an Outage
Metro Nashville emergency officials advise residents to report power outages around the clock by calling 615-234-0000, checking NES's interactive online outage map, or texting OUT to 637797. Officials caution against calling 911 for a power outage unless there is an active fire or a downed live wire, guidance issued through Nashville.gov earlier this year.
