SWP - Downed Power Lines and Utility Emergencies

Operating where electrical conductors are down, damaged or in contact with vehicles, structures, fences, trees or water; positioning apparatus, ladders and aerials near intact overhead lines; and responding to natural gas and propane leaks, odours and fires. It applies at motor vehicle collisions, storm response, structure fires, wildland fires, rescues and any call where a utility is involved. Electrical safety in stations and shops is under Facilities and Station Safety Program (CSA Z462:24).

• Electrocution from contact with a downed conductor, or with anything in contact with it: vehicles, guardrails, fences, puddles, wet ground, trees, metal siding.
• Step and touch potential: voltage gradients in the ground around a downed conductor that can kill a person walking toward it.
• Aerial device or ground ladder contact with an overhead line; multiple firefighter deaths have occurred this way (NIOSH, n.d.-b).
• Lines that are dead one minute and re-energized the next by automatic reclosers or by the utility.
• Natural gas or propane accumulating to a flammable concentration in a building, a trench or a low area; ignition by a switch, a flashlight, a doorbell or an apparatus; explosion; BLEVE of a propane tank exposed to fire (MLITSD, n.d., GN 6-47).
• Carbon monoxide from fuel-burning appliances and generators.
• Long waits for the utility leaving crews in a hazardous position.

Full structural PPE; SCBA; four-gas instrument bumped that day; scene tape and cones; the utility’s emergency numbers (electric and gas) on every apparatus; binoculars; a thermal imager; dielectric gloves and non-contact voltage detector where the department carries them, with current test records; roadway blocking per SWP - Roadway Incident Scene Blocking.

A company officer and crew with electrical awareness training (recruit) and the annual utility session; an instrument-trained member for gas calls; the ISO at any incident where a line is in contact with a vehicle with occupants, at any gas leak inside an occupied building, and at any propane tank fire; a utility representative at every downed-line and gas leak incident.

1. Assume every conductor is energized until the utility confirms, in person or by radio through dispatch with the time recorded, that it is de-energized and will stay that way. Telephone and cable lines can be energized by contact with power lines.
2. Establish a standoff of at least 10 m (33 ft) from the conductor and from anything in contact with it; expand the zone for high-voltage transmission lines and whenever the voltage is unknown. Tape it, announce it, and keep the public and members out.
3. Notify the utility through dispatch with the exact location, what is down and what it is touching; ask for the estimated time of arrival and tell command.
4. Decision point: is a vehicle in contact with a line, with occupants inside? Tell the occupants from outside the zone to stay in the vehicle and not to touch the frame and the ground at the same time; do not approach; wait for the utility. If fire forces them out, instruct them to jump clear with both feet together, land without touching the vehicle, and shuffle away with small steps keeping both feet on the ground until well outside the zone. Rescuers do not enter the zone.
5. Never cut, move or lift a conductor, and never allow a tow operator or the public to. Never use a tool, a pike pole or a hose stream to move a wire.
6. No water streams onto or near energized equipment; a fog stream from a distance only where the ISO and command agree it is needed for exposure protection, and never a straight stream.
7. Lines in trees, on fences or in water extend the zone along the whole conductor path; a fence or guardrail can be energized along its length.
8. At structure fires, the utility disconnects at the pole or the meter; crews do not pull meters unless the department’s utility has trained and authorized them; once disconnected, the service is tagged and the tag is recorded.

9. Identify overhead lines on the 360 and announce them. Position apparatus so that the aerial’s full range of movement stays outside the limit of approach.
10. The limits of approach for equipment, including aerials and ladders, are set by the applicable regulation (J19 Lockout, Machine Guarding and Electrical Safety). Where the voltage is unknown, use the largest distance.
11. A spotter watches the aerial or the ladder at all times near lines; ground ladders are raised and lowered clear of lines with the spotter directing.
12. If an aerial or apparatus contacts a line: nobody touches the apparatus; the operator stays on the apparatus unless fire forces them off, and then jumps clear with feet together as in step 4; the utility is called; the zone is set around the apparatus.

13. Approach from upwind and uphill; stage apparatus and non-essential members at least 100 m from a major leak, the Emergency Response Guidebook’s initial isolation distance for a flammable gas leak (Transport Canada, 2024), and, for a propane tank exposed to fire, use the Guidebook’s tank-fire isolation and evacuation distance for the product, which is far greater than the leak distance, wherever BLEVE is possible (Transport Canada, 2024; MLITSD, n.d., GN 6-47).
14. No ignition sources: no switches on or off, no doorbells, no flashlights other than intrinsically safe, no radios inside the flammable zone, apparatus engines off where the reading requires, no smoking, no vehicles through the zone.
15. Meter from the exterior first, then at the door, then inside, continuously; log the readings (Form - Hazmat Entry Log and Air Monitoring Record).
16. Decision point: what is the LEL reading? Below 10 per cent: entry in SCBA to locate the source and ventilate may proceed with continuous monitoring. At or above 10 per cent: leave or do not enter, ventilate from the exterior where it can be done without creating an ignition source, evacuate occupants. At or above 20 per cent: no entry under any circumstances, evacuate the building and the exposures, and wait for the utility.
17. Isolate at the meter valve (a quarter turn) where the crew is trained; the curb valve and the main are the utility’s to operate, not the department’s, unless the utility has trained and authorized the department. Tag any valve closed and record it; do not reopen a valve the department closed; the utility restores service.
18. Outside leaks: the zone is set from the readings, not from the smell; excavation strikes are isolated by the utility, with the excavator stopped and the operator kept clear; traffic blocked.
19. A gas-fed fire is not extinguished while the supply is open; protect exposures and wait for the utility to isolate, unless a life hazard requires otherwise and command decides it.
20. Carbon monoxide calls: SCBA on entry; meter; ventilate; identify the appliance; the utility or a licensed contractor isolates and inspects; occupants to EHS at the department’s symptom and reading thresholds.

21. The utility’s confirmation and the valve or service tags are recorded; readings logged; exposure reports for any member in a gas or CO atmosphere; hot debrief; triage under Incident Investigation and Learning Program.

• Member or civilian in contact with a conductor: do not touch them; the utility de-energizes; only then approach; cardiac emergency; EHS.
• Explosion or flash fire: emergency traffic; PAR; EHS; expand the zone; expect a second event.
• Apparatus energized: as in step 12.
• Utility delayed: hold the zone, rotate crews through rehab, escalate through dispatch to the utility’s supervisor; do not improvise isolation.
• Reclosure energizes a “dead” line: this is why nobody approaches without confirmation; if it happens, withdraw and re-establish the zone.

Incident record with the utility notification time, the confirmation of de-energization (who, how, when), valve and service tags, meter readings with times, exposure reports, and any near miss (contact, approach inside the limit, entry at a flammable reading) reported through the near-miss system and triaged (Tier 2 for any contact, flash fire or entry above 10 per cent LEL).

Electrical awareness in recruit training; an annual session with the department’s electric and gas utilities covering limits of approach, downed-line scenarios, meter isolation where authorized, and reclosers; annual instrument sign-off for LEL and CO; officers: the decision points in the annual command simulation. The Hazardous Materials and Fire Suppression teams jointly review this procedure annually and after any utility incident with a stop-work trigger, with a learning-team session first. Sign-off: the program managers; consulted: the JOHSC and the utilities.

• Programs: Hazardous Materials, CBRN and Energy Hazards Program section 5.12; Emergency Operations Safety Program sections 5.8 and 5.16; Facilities and Station Safety Program.
• Policies: Policy - Hazardous Materials and WHMIS; Policy - Emergency Operations Safety.
• Procedures: SWP - Solar PV and Energy Storage Systems; SWP - EV and Lithium Battery Fire; SWP - Roadway Incident Scene Blocking; SWP - Aerial Device Operations; SWP - Ground Ladder Operations.
• Forms: Form - Hazmat Entry Log and Air Monitoring Record.

This chapter relies on the following legal requirements, which differ by province and territory. Check your jurisdiction’s section on each topic page before adopting it.

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health [NIOSH]. (n.d.-b). Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program [Program website and investigation reports]. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/firefighters/fffipp/index.html

Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development [MLITSD]. (n.d.). Firefighter guidance notes (Section 21 Advisory Committee; individual notes revised to 2026). https://www.ontario.ca/document/firefighter-guidance-notes