A Wismar woman who lost her home and belongings in a fire last Thursday says repeated electricity outages and fluctuations preceded the blaze and that she had previously complained to the Linden utility about sparking wires.
Diana Ross, of 22 Wismar, made the allegation during a Facebook Live broadcast by Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed and Region Ten WIN representative Mark Goring.
Ross said she was away purchasing paint when she was informed that her house was on fire. She returned to find the building engulfed.
“When I come, somebody tell me that my house on fire. When I meet it, this is what I see,” she said while showing the remains of the building.
Ross said she became distressed and was taken to hospital, where she was treated after her blood pressure and heart rate fluctuated. She later requested to be discharged because she had no clothing or other belongings.
The woman attributed the fire to an electrical problem near the meter, saying the electricity had been switching on and off and wires at the property had been sparking.
“I went to the electricity [company] and tell them that the wire [was] sparking [and] the current [was going] on and off,” she said.
Ross said she had made several previous reports and could provide telephone records showing repeated calls to the utility.
She maintained that cooking could not have caused the fire since no one was at home and her gas cylinder was empty. Her visually impaired mother, who ordinarily stays with her, was visiting a relative at the time.
“If I didn’t leave my mother [away],” Ross said, trailing off. Mohamed responded that it was fortunate she had not been in the house.
Ross said utility workers subsequently visited the property, removed a live wire from the house and placed it on the ground, but she had received no further communication.
“Nobody come to me. Nobody call me. Nobody do nothing,” she said.
She reported losing clothing, household appliances, groceries and recently purchased items, including a rice cooker, cookware and an air-conditioning unit that had not yet been installed.
Ross also said an earlier electrical problem had damaged a microwave, forcing her to buy another one.
Liability
Goring questioned what responsibility electricity suppliers bear when voltage fluctuations or the repeated restoration of power allegedly damage customers’ property.
“One of the things that we have to look at when sorting electricity is what responsibility these electricity companies have when people get these fluctuations, causing all this damage,” he said. “Nobody is taking up this liability.”
Mohamed said electrical surges had also damaged equipment at his residence, including treadmills and other gym machines.
He told Ross that assistance would be provided to help her begin rebuilding, including the provision of concrete blocks.
“We can see to help you with some blocks and so, so you can get going,” he said.
Sawmills
The visit to Ross followed a tour by Mohamed and Goring of sawmills in Linden amid continuing load-shedding.
The two opposition representatives sought to challenge suggestions that sawmill operations were responsible for a substantial part of the town’s electricity demand.
Goring claimed that all the sawmills visited had been disconnected from the grid during the day, but communities still experienced outages.
“We visited the sawmills to prove…all the sawmills were off the grid today, meaning no electricity was supplied to the sawmills, and yet Linden had power outages,” he said.
He argued that this showed the electricity problem could not be attributed solely to the industrial operators.
The government has said there are records of 35 sawmills operating in Linden and has asked them to work between 10 pm and 11 am, outside the town’s peak-demand periods.
Those periods have been identified as 1 pm to 3 pm and 7 pm to 9 pm.
During an earlier part of the broadcast, one sawmiller said he had purchased a generating set for approximately $8.3 million and removed his operation from the grid.
Mohamed and Goring contended that some operators could not attract employees to work during the night and were consequently unable to benefit fully from the proposed schedule.
Discussion