Powerline Fire, originally uploaded by Aldon.

At around quarter of eleven this morning we heard a loud explosion outside our house and saw a bright flash. Looking outside, we branch lying across a couple power lines. It was smoldering. Fiona was particularly scared and she came up next to me. I pointed out the branch and said that it wasn’t anything really to worry about. As we watched, the branch caught fire. Kim called 911 and tweeted about the fire.

I ran upstairs to put on some good clothes for going outside, and we heard a second explosion. We didn’t see that one, but the power went out and when we looked outside, the branch had stopped burning.

Half an hour later, there had been no sign of the fire department. It was probably moot, because the rain had put out the fire, but still it was a concern. It may be that they tried to call, but couldn’t get through because the phone went out when the power went out.

Kim called the fire department to fill them in on what was going on, as well as to find out why no one came during the half hour after the explosion and fire. The person taking the call said that someone had come and said things were okay, although there was no sign that anyone had come. I walked to where near where the branch had been burning and it was clear from the lack of tracks in the snow that no one had been anywhere near where the fire was.

Kim called town hall to express her concern about this and soon after two firemen showed up. This was forty-five minutes to an hour after the fire and we are fortunate that it turned out to be a minor fire that the rain put out, yet we remain concerned about the breakdown of communications.

We were told that power would not be likely to be back on until four in the afternoon. So, when our driveway and the roads seemed safe enough, we drove over to Kim’s father’s house where there is still power and I can get online.

We’ve heard from our neighbor that a power truck is in our driveway now and so we should have power soon. So, it has been another exciting day. Yet again, I haven’t been able to get as much done as I would have liked, and will try to catch up soon enough.

4 PM Update:
We just got a call from our neighbor. Apparently, the power came back on briefly, and then there was another explosion, and the power is back out again. It is now estimated that the power will be out until 7 PM