On April 27th, internet and phone service went down in part of Northern Cambria. Police think the damaged utility pole that caused it was set on fire. They’re calling it arson and malicious vandalism.
“I saw scarring from the ground up and knew that obviously it wasn’t just a typical transformer or electrical fire,” a concerned resident said. “Somebody lit the pole on fire.”
Experts said it can’t be that; the burn marks tell all.
“What it looked like was the cable was burnt up from taking a lightning shot and internally burnt itself up,” said local CWA President Dan Long.
The concerned resident wanted to conceal his identity in case the pole damage was intentional.
“If he’s mad enough at his company to do something this stupid, what’s stopping him from coming and doing something really stupid at my house,” he said.
A Verizon spokesperson said, on average, vandalism incidents are rare. They may see only six in a year. In three weeks, more than 130 poles have been damaged in five states; 27 of those are in Pennsylvania.
“Criminal acts like this aren’t fun and games,” said spokesman John O’Malley. “They’re reckless, they’re malicious, and they’re dangerous, and they’re also a violation of federal law. So we hope whoever is doing this is prepared to pay the price when they’re caught.”
“The CWA doesn’t condone or encourage any kind of vandalism,” Long said. “To me it looks like more of Verizon trying to pass off the customer service issues they’re experiencing on the CWA right now.”
Contractors were out Monday afternoon repairing the latest in pole damage. The resident said he was glad to see the repairs, but the damage to his and his wife’s businesses had already been done.
“I’m like a hair away from losing my contract,” he said. “My wife lost tons of business. It’s not helping us at all. Even if they catch the guy, it’s not gonna help us with our problems.”
This incident, like many others, is still under investigation. Verizon is offering a reward of up to $10,000 to anyone with information that leads to an arrest of whoever might be damaging the equipment.