Grass fire and power outage in South Bathurst caused by lightning strike

At around 6.30pm on Thursday, January 12, Kelso Fire and Rescue crews were called to the College Road and Ethelton Avenue area, following reports that lightning had struck a power pole which had brought down the power lines and started a grass fire.

Two pumpers from the Kelso station attended the scene, one truck from both the Eglinton and Bathurst Rural Fire Services (RFS).

Kelso Fire Station Captain Scott Wilson said the fire grew to about 20 by 10 metres in size but was extinguished quickly with the help of the heavy rain before the RFS trucks arrived.

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Capt Wilson said no properties were under threat.

After the fire had been extinguished, Essential Energy crews responded to the unplanned power outage.

Power was automatically switched off when lightning stuck the electricity network, leaving 1,293 homes and businesses without power.

Crews were able to isolate the damaged section of the power network and restore power to 327 affected customers at around 7.30pm last night.

Crews then set about carrying out repairs as quickly and safely as possible before restoring power to all remaining customers by 8.42pm last night.

Essential Energy thanked customers for their patience and understanding.

This is the second power pole related grass fire in Bathurst in the last two weeks, with a small grass fire in Kelso on Wednesday, January 4, the result of a power pole exploding.

This incident left almost 2,000 customers without power while Essential Energy crews worked to repair the connection.

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