Police investigating severed hydro line that knocked out power to thousands of London homes

Copper thief cut into live hydro line beneath Adelaide Street. CTV London’s Daryl Newcombe reports.

Power has been restored, but the investigation continues into a brazen attempt to steal a copper hydro line beneath a bridge on Adelaide Street (near Ada Street) early Friday morning.

According to London Hydro, a 10.5 cm live power line was intentionally severed by an unknown individual at around 6:30 a.m., initially knocking out power to 5,000 customers in Glen Cairn, Highland and Hamilton Road areas.

The London Fire Department responded to the area after receiving calls about smoke billowing from beneath the bridge.

“This was significant enough for us to respond with the HazMat unit because of the incident,” explains Deputy Fire Chief Gary Bridge. “(The incident) put not only members of the public at risk, but also our firefighters.”

No one was found in the area, so the condition of the person who attempted to steal the copper line remains unknown.

“I can’t even describe to you how dangerous this is, 27,000 volts is not something to mess around with,” warns Ysni Semsedini, CEO of London Hydro. “Our homes have about 120 volts, so it gives you a sense of how much higher the potential impact was for this person.”

Power was restored in the area, but the complex repair to the feeder line will take considerable time and money.

It’s the latest incident in a troubling trend.

“So far this year, we’ve seen the number of incidents of people trying to get into our infrastructure really increase,” explains Semsedini. “We’re projecting about $1 million of damage this year from situations like this.”

“We are actively investigating. We’ve been actively involved with London Hydro and the City of London with this ongoing issue of copper theft,” said Insp. Sean Travis of the London Police Service. “It’s well known that copper theft has been a source of income for certain members of our community.”

City Hall previously tightened up its by-law that regulates recycling companies that purchase scrap metal.

Mayor Josh Morgan says lobbying efforts have already taken place at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) to implement consistent rules across the province to curb the black market for stolen copper.

“The next phase in this is to work with our regional partners to ensure that we’re working together as municipalities, because these materials could be stolen here but sold elsewhere,” Morgan told CTV News.

Inspector Travis believes the public can play a crucial role in the investigation.

“People in our community are aware of who are committing these thefts, and we urge anyone to come forward that may be able to help solve this,” he urges. “As everyone has reiterated, this presents a very serious safety concern.”

London Police urge anyone who sees someone tampering with hydro equipment to immediately call 9-1-1.

Anyone with information to assist this investigation should call the non-emergency line 519-661-5670, or anonymously contact CrimeStoppers.