Copper wire stolen from Newfoundland Power substation twice in 1 week: RCMP

The same Newfoundland Power substation in South River was the target of thieves twice in one week, with the second incident causing substantial damage and a large power outage, says the RCMPin Bay Roberts.

In a press release, the RCMPsaid someone cut the lock off the substation's gate on Oct.26,went inside, andcut and stole copper wire from several electrical towers.

Police were called back to the substation on Springfield Road three days later, on Oct. 29, to find the lock had again been cut. This time, not only was copper wire cutand stolen, but the compound's high-voltage electricity system had been damaged.

That caused a power outage to nearly 3,000 nearby Newfoundland Power customers for more than four hours, and repair crews were still working Tuesday to fix all the damage, said police.

RCMP warned that tampering with grounding wire at such substations is very dangerous, not only to the people doing the tampering but to the employees sent to repair the damage.

RCMP ask anyone with information about the thefts to call the Bay Roberts detachment, or Crime Stoppers.

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