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BOUNTIFUL -- A day after a young boy was critically injured when a power line fell on the swing set he was playing on, crews from Bountiful City Power began cutting down the tree investigators say is to blame for the accident.
Bountiful police say a limb fell from the tree Tuesday, snapping a power line and sending it into a backyard, where it came into contact with a 2-and-a half-year-old boy. The boy is still in critical, but stable condition at the University of Utah Medical Center's Burn Unit.
Bountiful City Power General Manager Allen Johnson says the owner of the tree, which is next door to where the boy was playing, has agreed to let them take it completely down. He says crews were in the area near 700 West and 3200 South in the last couple of years, trimming branches and limbs.
Bountiful City has two crews that work full time and year-round to try to maintain a safe distance between power lines and trees. In this case, he says wind from a storm front broke a branch from above the power line.
Johnson says this year has been particularly difficult for crews to keep up. "This spring, obviously with all the moisture we've had and the temperatures, trees and vines are just taking off," he said.
Johnson says homeowners are sometimes very reluctant to allow crews to trim branches around lines. They try to keep them at least 10 feet from any branch. "We all like our trees, and we all like our power, but the two don't match," he said.
Regardless of who their provider is, Johnson advises people who notice problems to contact their power company.
E-mail: mgiauque@ksl.com
