Albuquerque Journal

Safety first

If a balloon gets tangled in a power line, call 911 and stay clear

- BY RICK NATHANSON JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

As hundreds of hot air balloons take to the sky during the 47th annual Albuquerqu­e Internatio­nal Balloon Fiesta, it’s not unheard-of for a balloon to get caught on a power pole or an electrical line.

When that happens, officials from the fiesta and from the Public Service Company of New Mexico want everyone to know that the best course of action is to call 911 and then stay the heck away.

“Always assume a line is energized,” said Zach Johnson, the metro and northern New Mexico operations manager for PNM.

Speaking during a Wednesday safety demonstrat­ion at the Reeves Generating station off Paseo del Norte, Johnson said, “Touching a balloon that has been wrapped around a power line could cause a chain reaction that injures those attempting to provide aid, as well as everybody in the balloon.”

Because electricit­y “seeks the nearest path to the ground,” he said, an energized line that poses minimal danger to a balloon hanging from it “can become deadly if an onlooker touches the ground while touching a

balloon or tether at the same time.”

PNM line crews are trained and experience­d at assisting balloonist­s entangled in poles or wires, he said. The safest thing a bystander can do is call 911 and provide the best location informatio­n possible — if the balloon is in front of a house or in someone’s backyard, nearest cross streets and recognizab­le landmarks.

The safest thing for people riding in the basket to do is stay in the basket and create as little motion as possible, Johnson said.

Law enforcemen­t officers, fire crews and other first responders should immediatel­y create a safety zone of at least 100 feet around the balloon to keep onlookers away. No one should touch downed power lines or lines with broken ends, he said.

Fire crews, he reminded, should refrain from spraying water on power lines. “Water and electricit­y is a deadly combinatio­n” because water conducts electricit­y and anyone in contact with that water can get shocked.

Ray Bair, a member of the Balloon Fiesta board of directors and a pilot who has flown during fiestas for the past 35 years, said pilots try to avoid power poles and lines, but sometimes contact appears unavoidabl­e. When that happens, they have two options: They can ignite their burners and try to fly over the power line, or they can vent hot air from the envelope and bring the balloon down quickly.

“We advocate they aggressive­ly vent the balloon, the idea being that if you try to fly over it and don’t make it, the power line’s contact will (likely) be at the balloon’s suspension cables or at the basket where the passengers and the pilot are,” Bair said. By venting, they will probably end up “with the balloon envelope draped over the power line, which isn’t pretty, but it’s a safer situation.”

Balloon pilots are also encouraged to assume that every power line is live. Too often, people believe that once a balloon makes contact with a power line that “it somehow triggers a breaker, or interrupte­r, and turns the power off and they are now safe from electrocut­ion,” Bair said. “That is not the case.”

 ?? ADOLPHE PIERRE-LOUIS/JOURNAL ?? PNM linemen Jimmy Curtis, left, and Scott Cohernour untangle a hot air balloon from power lines during a balloon safety demonstrat­ion Wednesday.
ADOLPHE PIERRE-LOUIS/JOURNAL PNM linemen Jimmy Curtis, left, and Scott Cohernour untangle a hot air balloon from power lines during a balloon safety demonstrat­ion Wednesday.
 ?? ADOLPHE PIERRE-LOUIS/JOURNAL ?? Balloon Fiesta board member Ray Bair talks about how to keep pilots, passengers and onlookers safe in the event a balloon gets tangled in a power line.
ADOLPHE PIERRE-LOUIS/JOURNAL Balloon Fiesta board member Ray Bair talks about how to keep pilots, passengers and onlookers safe in the event a balloon gets tangled in a power line.

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