Tractor-trailer rig hits poles, downs live power lines onto Grayson Elementary in Westley
A crash involving a tractor trailer downed four power poles and lines at Grayson Elementary School in Westley on Wednesday afternoon, according to the California Highway Patrol.
CHP officers responded to the call at about 2:40 p.m. and discovered four severed wooden power poles, live wires resting in the school’s parking lot and a Kenworth tractor trailer with a telecommunication cable lying atop its load.
School was not in session at the time and no one was injured, but it appears a crisis was narrowly averted because the school’s normal pickup time is between 2:30 p.m. and 2:50 p.m., CHP Modesto area spokesman Officer Tom Olsen said.
He added that live power lines in the parking lot of the school stretched along its perimeter cyclone fence. If school had been in session, “this would have been a much worse scenario,” Olsen said.
Upon investigation, officers determined the tractor’s load, an “industrial-sized” generator, snagged onto a cable as its driver made a right turn onto Kern Street from Howard Road.
The load stretched cable “to the point where four separate wooden power poles snapped” with two of the poles landing on the north shoulder near the intersection and the other two poles landing in the parking lot of the school causing a power line to strike three unoccupied vehicles, according to a CHP statement.
PG&E was summoned to the scene to shut down power. It was not immediately available for comment on how many customers the outage affected or how long it lasted. .
However, the CHP reported that Howard Road was closed between State Route 33 and Beall Avenue throughout the night to “restore power to the school and the town of Westley.”
School was not in session Wednesday because its staff and faculty were having a professional development day. The school was reopened Thursday with regular instruction resumed, said Johnny Padilla, grants and communications coordinator for the Patterson Joint Unified School District.
