MILLCREEK CANYON, Utah — Millcreek Canyon will be closed for one more day as electric crews remove 150 power poles from the area.
The work is part of Rocky Mountain Power’s three-year Wildfire Mitigation Project to move power lines underground.
Tuesday’s rain and Wednesday’s wind and snow derailed crews’ plans, but despite those obstacles, workers are staying on track.
“We couldn’t have picked a better week, I guess,” joked Brian Beachler, superintendent with Sturgeon Electric. “So they say, right?”
The Sturgeon Electric crews spent Tuesday and Wednesday cutting down power poles and cleaning up long lengths of copper wire.
“All the power lines that were existing that have been here for years, they’re getting removed,” said Beachler.
In the summer of 2020, the “Crestwood Fire” forced hundreds of people to evacuate the canyon. The blaze was caused by arcing power lines.
Beachler said underground wires will help prevent that.
“You can’t see it, it’s reliable, you don’t have wind that blows power lines together and causes sparks,” he said.
The men were supposed to have a helicopter helping them these last two days but weather conditions were too poor.
“He’s worried about icing up when he’s up there and visibility as far as seeing people on the ground,” he said.
Despite only having teams on the ground, Beachler said they were able to remove forty poles just on Wednesday.
Millcreek Canyon will be closed Thursday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The crews are counting on the helicopter to be there all day to get to those hard-to-reach areas.
