People living along the cane belt are being urged not to start a fire close to the Energy Fiji Limited wooden power line carrying 33,000 volts of electricity as people living halfway between Ba and Tavua to Rakiraki were without electricity from about 1.30pm yesterday to about 4.30am today.
EFL CEO, Hasmukh Patel says someone, without caring too much very carelessly piled the rubbish and lit the fire very close to our wooden power poles.
He says a lot of time is taken to gather man, equipment, and resources, and then get to the site and put the power pole.
Patel says the cost of installing a power pole can range anywhere between $30,000 to $40,000 or up to $100,000.
He says they have experienced at least six to 10 cases where their wooden power poles that transport 33,000-volt electricity, which runs all the way from Lautoka to Rakiraki, have been damaged.
Patel says their crews had to go out at odd times in the evening or night to replace them.
The CEO says it has caused a lot of inconvenience to their valuable customers.
Patel says they have tried investigating these incidents but it has been a challenge as families living closest to the poles say they did not light the fire and there is no way to prove or discredit it.
He says they have commenced a program this year where they are painting their wooded poles with anti-fire retardant paint and putting a special wrap that they have imported.
Patel says this is a cost they have to incur because people are not considerate of where they are lighting fires.
He adds they have thousands of power poles so it is going to take some time before they complete the exercise.
