 WIRE BURNED IN POWER LINE TESTE&MP 101.001 Power Transmission April 24, 1942 The flash in this picture was bright enough to have been seen five miles and the accompanying roar was heard for half a mile away. Yet the whole thing was caused by the deliberate burning of a wire. It is a picture made some time ago at Leadville, Colorado, during the testing of a 150-mile power line of the Public Service Company of Colorado. A General Electric six unit Hewlett Insulator string had been hooked into the circuit and the line conductor grounded by means of a piece of fuse wire. When the switch was thrown and 110,000 volts went pulsing through the circuit, the fuse wire burst into flame and 1000 amperes jumped the gap with a roar. Fifteen watchmen were stationed at 10-mile intervals to watch for similar outbreaks, the indication of weak spots, along the line.
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