COMELECTRIC WORKER STILL HOSPITALIZED

by Matt Herper

A ComElectric worker injured in Kendall Square while trying to end a power outage is still in serious condition in the Intensive Care Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital.

The Kendall Square explosion was the second in a series of three blasts which caused Cambridge to lose almost all of its power on Thursday, August 7. The explosion of a high voltage cable also injured a police officer and two other COM/Electric workers.

A fourth COM/Electric worker, Douglas Pollander, was killed in the explosion.

The MIT power plant, which does not provide electricity for the entire campus, stopped functioning during the blackout. It resumed normal function at 1:00 AM on August 9.

According to Mike Durand, a representative of COM/Electric, the initial explosion was caused by a faulty cable. This explosion caused a blackout of MIT and Cambridge at about 5:35 pm.

Power was restored to MIT and Cambridge at 7:00 pm, but was lost five minutes later in the Kendall Square manhole blast.

COM/Electric insists that these kinds of explosions are exceedingly rare, and that safety precautions were taken. Nevertheless, the job of a lead man, who splices underground cables, is a dangerous one. According to The Cambridge Chronicle, Hollander was burned at work nine years ago.

The Cambridge TAB reported that COM/Electric fired one employee and suspended a supervisor as a result of the Kendall Square blast. The employee had switched on a line in the manhole which workers on the scene had presumed was turned off. Switching on that cable led directly to the explosion.

Additionally, a Wareham control center apparently gave a go-ahead to its Cambridge substation without cutting off the flow of electricity to the manhole. This would have been a proper and expected safeguard.

COM/Electric has set up a fund for Douglas Pollander's family. Checks should be made payable to the Douglas Pollander Family Fund and mailed to Commonwealth Credit Union, One Main St., Cambridge, MA 02142.