Brian Hagberg
RUSSELL, Pa. – One of the new poles recently placed across from the Warren County School District offices in Russell caught fire Sunday.
(A screen grab from video posted by Amy Johnson shows a pole on fire, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2020.)
The Russell Volunteer Fire Department responded to the call at 11:43 a.m.
Firefighters “arrived on scene and found a new replacement pole on fire due to wires coming in contact with the pole,” the department posted on its Facebook page.
The fire was caught on video and shared to Facebook by Amy Johnson. Johnson agreed to let Your Daily Local publish the video.
Traffic on Route 62, between Woodland Drive and Route 957, was stopped for an hour, according to the RVFD. The department could not be reached for comment at press time.
Further information will be provided as it becomes available.
UPDATE, Sept. 14, 4 p.m.
The fire knocked out internet and phone service to the WCSD offices for most of the day Monday, Sept. 14, the district posted to Facebook.
“The outage has taken down the central office phone system and is preventing delivery of virtual academy instruction at the moment,” the post said.
Service was restored at approximately 3:30 p.m. Sept. 14.
Stacey Gross contributed to this report.
