Gusts Topple Light Pole

Eddie Jabbour was in the midst of making a bacon-and-egg sandwich at his Ninth Square Market Wednesday morning when he saw an unusual sight outside: a 32-foot-tall street light falling to earth.

Jabbour had cracked open the egg, thrown it on the grill along with the bacon, and approached the front door to see if his wife was arriving, when he beheld the pole crashing into the street on Orange between Center and Crown.

Fortunately, even though it was the morning rush hour, the pole didn’t hit any cars or pedestrians.

Jabbour dialed 911. Cops were down the street and arrived immediately.

“I was shocked. The thing was huge and made a big noise,” he recalled later.

The city’s traffic department, which oversees street lights, arrived on the scene. United Illuminating shut off the electricity. Then, because the traffic department won’t receive a big enough bucket truck for another three weeks, according to chief Doug Hausladen, it called in public works to remove the pole.

It turned out the street light was rusted at the base. So City Engineer Giovanni Zinn decided to have six similar nearby poles examined to see if they have similar rust. He enlisted a public-works truck with a material-handling crane to lift the poles, then had the decorative shrouds removed from the bases for inspection.

Four of the poles and bases ​“looked absolutely fine,” Zinn reported. Two showed possible signs of corrosion. So, once the wind dies down, possibly Thursday, he plans to have those two poles disconnected for a closer look.

“We don’t believe there’s imminent threat” of another toppling like Wednesday morning’s, Zinn said. He said the area’s ductile iron street lights went up as part of the Ninth Square redevelopment of the early 1990s. The poles themselves rise 26 feet, with a six-foot decoration ​“bishops crook” arm attached to the top.