Utility crews clear wires from homeowner’s property following August storm

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - Now to a follow up on a story we brought to you earlier this week. Help has finally arrived for one Springfield homeowner struggling with downed wires.

We followed up with the homeowner on Wednesday, and she told us she’s grateful our story brought attention to the problem. The telephone wires had been tangled across her yard since the August 8th macroburst, leaving her too afraid to even let her dog outside.

As of Monday, she had called 911, 311, visited a Verizon store and contacted the Attorney General’s Office — but was still waiting for a solution. Because she’s not a Verizon customer, she couldn’t get through to the company to report the issue and says she was stuck in an automated phone loop until our story aired.

However, the very next day, the homeowner told us she was contacted by Verizon’s local management, and they came out to her home to take a closer look at the wires.

Verizon told Western Mass News a fallen tree had been obscuring the drop wire but after that tree was removed, crews were able to identify the line and schedule a technician to come out and safely remove it.

The homeowner told us she’s thankful the wires will finally be taken care of and said she appreciates western mass news helping bring attention to her concerns, “I definitely want to thank channel 40 for coming out, because if it wasn’t for them none of this would happen. Verizon would never address my issues,” the Mansfield Street resident said, “when they came back out after 40 had gotten a hold of them, then things started to happen my pole now is closed up, all the wires aren’t hanging out all the wires that were hanging all over the ground are no longer on the ground so it’s looking much better now I can come back and clean my yard and let me dog run around if he wants to so I’m very thankful for channel 40.”

We did reach out to Verizon, which said to Western Mass News in a statement, “When our team was first alerted to a report of downed wires near the property on August 13, technicians immediately responded to inspect the location. Upon initial arrival, crews did not identify any immediate hazards or exposed infrastructure at the address, though extensive storm debris and fallen trees remained present throughout the rear yards along Mansfield Street and the surrounding neighborhood.

Local management visited the home directly for a follow-up, hands-on assessment. Following the recent removal of a fallen tree that had been obscuring a drop wire on the property, our management team was able to identify the line in question. A field technician is scheduled to arrive at the residence later this morning to safely remove the wire and complete the necessary work."

Verizon also went on to say that non-customers can report problems to them by calling 1-800-VERIZON.