CLEVELAND — A lineman cutting wires from a burning utility pole experienced a terrifying, near-death moment near I-90 and East 152nd Street Friday morning.
According to a News 5 photographer on scene, the Cleveland Fire Department received a call about a utility pole on fire at about 3:30 a.m.
Cleveland Public Power determined the utility pole didn’t belong to them, but they remained on scene.
Crews from FirstEnergy arrived on scene at about 5:00 a.m., but the bucket on their truck was too short to reach the area of the pole to remove the wires.
Cleveland police and fire officials then started shutting down I-90 in both directions near East 152nd Street.
Cleveland Public Power assisted crews from FirstEnergy because they had a truck high enough for the lineman to reach the wires on the utility pole.
While the lineman from Cleveland Public Power was removing the wires, the blazing pole came crashing down.
Within seconds, the lineman had to duck to avoid getting caught under the falling wires.
