August 22, 2015
The occupants of three vehicles waiting to enter the Wondai Sportsground – and volunteers manning the gate – escaped injury when a high voltage powerline suddenly snapped above their heads on Saturday afternoon.
Witnesses told southburnett.com.au the fallen line struck one of the vehicles, a white utility.
People standing nearby screamed at the driver to stay inside his vehicle.
The broken power line also fell close to one of the rugby league volunteers collecting money at the gate.
While one side of the line fell near the vehicles, the other side struck grass near the gate, sparking a small fire.
The witness said there were sparks on the top of one of the power poles and what sounded like a small explosion as the line came down.
Several people rang Triple 0.
Firefighters were first to arrive. They marked off the area and extinguished the fire.
An Ergon Energy crew then began the task of repairing the broken line.
The incident cut off power to the sportsground as well as to about 1200 customers in Wondai.
It occurred just before full-time in the U16s major semi-final between Kingaroy and Cherbourg.
The A Grade major semi-final between Wondai and Cherbourg was then played with no power which meant the ground’s scoreboard and electronic clock were not working.
A decision was then made by the South Burnett Rugby League to shift the A Grade minor semi-final between Murgon and Kingaroy to Murgon Sportsground to ensure that ground lights would be available for the game.
UPDATE August 24: An Ergon Energy spokesman said today power was reinstated to all apart from about 100 customers within 70 minutes of the incident. Crews then replaced the damaged section of line so power could be restored to all customers by 6:50pm on Saturday.
