Lines and Limbs

Spokesmen with SWEPCO and Carroll Electric say they are responsible for keeping trees clear of power lines and even have special crews assigned to do just that. Back in 2005, SWEPCO angered several Fayetteville residents when the company sent crews out to cut down trees in the right-of-way of power lines. A SWEPCO spokesman said the trees were causing problems and outages. Fast forward to 2007, and tree-related power problems could be found all over Benton County this week. A spokesman with Carroll Electric, which supplies power to most of the county, says they do have crews dedicated to doing nothing but trimming back trees. He says the problem came from other outside factors. He says the rain softened up the ground...Making it easier for trees to become uprooted and fall over. And on top of that, he says some trees outside the right-of-way are tall enough to reach the lines when they fall. According to the spokesman, limbs often grow back before crews can get to them again and he says they often have a problem with people planting trees underneath the power lines. He says if they didn`t have these crews however, things would have been much worse after the storm. According to Carroll Electric, there are still a few scattered outages in the Sulphur Springs and Gravette areas, but they say they are making good progress.