By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
Raton Public Service and 4G Power Line worked Thursday evening and night to replace two power poles that had rotted out from the inside according to RPS General Manager Dave Piancino.
The power went out at 6:00 p.m. as planned and came back on about eight hours later as the crews finished up the pole replacement. The two poles that were replaced were located at the north end of the soccer field and on the west side of the railroad tracks west of Kearny Ave. The power pole at the soccer field had about one inch of wood on the one side and about one and half inches on the other side with the middle 10 inches rotted out. Had that pole failed it likely would have pulled to the east and taken out the distribution power line that goes to south Raton and the hospital
While the job went pretty smooth for the most part the job was not without its horror as someone took a shot at the line crews working at the soccer field with one lineman reporting that he heard something swish by his head. Raton PD and Colfax SO swarmed the area but no shooter was found according to Raton Police. Work on the line continued and by 9:45 p.m. the lines had been moved to the new poles. Some minor wire work still needed to be done and cleanup work had to be completed before power could be restored.
Once the work was completed and all work crews were clear of the lines RPS contacted Tri-State Generation to begin the reenergizing process. By about 2:00 a.m. power had been restored to Raton.
In downtown Raton the temperature was 64° at 6:00 p.m. and slowly dropped through the night. By 2:00 am in the morning when the power was restored the temperature had dropped to 42° in the downtown area.
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