Limb falls on power line setting meter box on fire

Quick response from everyone involved no doubt saved a home and might have also saved lives on Thursday evening on the south side of Jasper. The call came to emergency dispatchers shortly after 7:00, when someone reported that a limb had fallen on a power line or service drop to a home, breaking an electrical weather head and causing it to short out on the wall of a home at 2115 Pinecrest Drive, just south of Shady Lane. First to arrive at the scene was Jasper Police Officers Brian Gray, Caleb Taylor and Gerald Hudson, who immediately grabbed fire extinguishers from their car and began to fight the fire, keeping it from spreading to the eave and attic of the home. Soon the volunteers of the Jasper Fire Department and linemen from the City of Jasper arrived and put out any flames that were still visible and pulled a primary fuse on the nearby pole mounted electrical transformer, shutting off power to the residence. Firemen said the owner of the home, Kirk Bryan and his wife did a great job of getting everyone out of the home before they arrived, reducing the chance of injury. Ironically, the incident occurred just a few days after a new electrical pole had been set and power had been restored to the home following the recent storm. However, firemen said it was still another limb that fell and hit the line to the home causing the incident.