July 18 - Dorchester Reporter

girls from the back seat,but they struggled toget the doors— whichwere locked — open.With assistance fromtheir friend Christine,they extricated the girlswhile carefully avoidingthe power lines. A fewmoments after they wereall out, the car burst intoflames – Cleckley is stillnot sure if the fire wascaused by the downedlines or the impact to thecar – but either way, theflames soon erupted intoa full blown conflagrationas the terrified womenran toward WashingtonStreet.“I had to get off ErieStreet because I wasafraid more power lineswould be coming down,”July 18 2013 The Reporter Page 5Toppled utility pole nearly crushed family(Continued from page 1)extended family, includingthe driver, SatishaCleckley, 25, and hersister and front seat passenger,Aquila Williams,29. In the back were theirdaughters, AnayamaWilliams, age 6, andSatisha’s 3-year-oldJa’Noiya— strapped intoher car seat. A 22-yearoldfriend, ChristineClark, was also in theback seat, catching alift home from the sameparty.As Satisha Cleckleysteered her rented 2013Hyundai Sonata ontoErie Street from GreenwoodStreet, she brieflynoted that the powerlines above her weresagging extra low. Butshe was more concernedabout the truck in frontof her that was drivingslow— too slow. “I wasonly going about twomiles an hour becauseof the truck,” she saidin an interview with theReporter. “Then, I heardthe guys up on the corneryelling, ‘The pole! Thepole!’ ”In the next instant,the heavy wooden utilitypole came smashingdown on the Hyundai’shood. The impact sentthe rear of the vehicleskyward and — just asabruptly – brought itsmashing back to thepavement.Dazed by a blow toher head, Cleckley wasconfused and thoughtthat the flashes shesaw next all aroundthe car “looked likelightning.” In fact, theflashes and pops weredowned power linescrackling and shootingflames all around thecar. “It sounded likefireworks,” she said.Cleckley and her sisterrushed to extract theWho’s responsiblefor street poles?(Continued from page 1)onto a passing car carryingfive people, includingtwo small children, thatshortly afterwards burstinto flames.Fortunately, therewere but minor injuriesat the scene, but theaccident plunged about4,700 utility customersinto darkness, at leastfor the minutes it tookfor NStar managers torestore service to most ofthem. About 250 homesand businesses werewithout power throughthe night, as NStar workcrews were dispatched tomake emergency repairson Eire Street.Durand says that theutility company wouldnormally leave repairslike that to Verizon, but,he said, “We responded,and in the interest ofpublic safety and gettingthe system backup, we set those poles.”Power was fully restoredaround 3:30 a.m., hesaid.Durand said thatNStar has fired off aletter to Verizon callingattention to the incidentand reminding them“that it’s their servicearea.” Added Durand,“To my knowledge, it’sextremely rare for thisto happen. We have aprogram – and I’m sureVerizon does as well – toinspect and repair andreplace poles. This is arare occurrence.”Durand said thatNStar and Verizon havehad a long-standingagreement to split thecity between them onmaintenance of the polesthat carry their wires.NStar has jurisdictionover Brighton, EastBoston, Jamaica Plain,Roslindale, South End,and West Roxbury. Verizoncovers Charlestown,Dorchester, Mattapan,Roxbury, and SouthBoston.Darryl Smith, whoran to the scene of theaccident on June 22,said that both companiesneed to communicatebetter and step up theirefforts to maintain polesthat are a clear andpresent danger. “Whenthe community is lodgingcomplaints into NStar– and they know it’snot their issue – thatinfo should be passedon to the community sothey can then lodge thecomplaint to the rightplace. This just wasn’thandled properly. Whathappened was almosttragic. There’s no waypeople should be ridingdown the street and polesare falling on them andtheir kids.”– BILL FORRYSatisha Cleckley, 25, was at the wheel of her rentedHyundai on Erie Street when the pole fell onto hercar’s hood. Her daughter, Jan’Noiya was in thebackseat. Both escaped serious injury.Photo courtesy Satisha CleckleyCleckley recalled. Herfears were completelyjustified. The pole thatfell onto her car hadpulled down a secondpole farther down theblock, closer to the intersectionwith Greenwood.And the immediateneighborhood — andmany streets aroundFour Corners— had beenplunged into darkness onan 80-degree night.A trio of Boston Policeofficers— who heard“an explosion” whileresponding to an unrelatedcall nearby— wereon the scene in seconds.They also recorded thetwo poles down on ErieStreet and noted thatthe second pole had alsostruck a car — which wasscorched in the fire thatfollowed. No additionalinjuries were noted inthe police report.A pair of ambulancescollected Cleckley andher passengers aboutten minutes later anddrove them to BostonMedical Center, wherethey were all treated forminor injuries.While the victims wereat the hospital, DarrylSmith was racing to thescene after getting a textmessage from a neighborhoodactivist. Smithknew these utility poleswell. He had been to ErieStreet a few weeks beforeto eyeball the one thatlater toppled onto thecar. “It was pointed outto me that the pole wasin danger of collapsing,”Smith said. He reportedwhat he had found toNStar as had businessowners and civic activistsin Four Corners who hadcalled in their concernsthat it looked about tofall at any moment.Mike Durand, a spokesmanfor NStar, confirmedthat the utility companydid get calls about thepole’s condition, but, hesaid, responsibility forreplacing the pole fellto a different company:Verizon, the phone companythat shares the poleproperty with NStar.S t e p h a n i e L e e , aspokesperson for Verizon,declined to commentin detail for this story,saying simply: “We areaware of this situation,but can’t provide anyinformation at this timeas the incident is underinvestigation.”Meanwhile, DarrylSmith worries that thereare other poles out therethat could be a problemright now. “I think there’sa citywide concern here.I did get some othercomplaints that there areother poles in danger ofcollapse. We respectfullyask NStar and Verizon todo a full investigation ofall the poles in the city toensure that a situationlike this never occursagain.”Satisha Cleckley, whois planning a lawsuitover her losses and injuries,couldn’t agree more.The lifelong Dorchesterresident returned towork this week aftersuffering sprains to herwrist, neck, pelvis, andankle. She has sufferedfrom migraines since theaccident and lost many ofher personal belongingsin the blaze that engulfedthe Hyundai.Worst of all, she said,is the stress the incidentcaused her daughter.“July Fourth was a nightmarefor her with all thefireworks. Every time afirecracker goes off sherelives that night. She’straumatized.”Stop paying big bank fees! Switch to Totally FREE Checkingat Mt. Washington Bank and start saving today!Switch to Mt. 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