Mansfield Policy Could Be Used To Cut Down Foxborough Outages

FOXBOROUGH, MA — Foxborough Fire Chief Roger Hatfield has an idea to cut down on potential power outages and it comes from the Mansfield, the local standard for public utilities in the eyes of many around town.

Hatfield told the selectmen Tuesday that unlike Foxborough, Mansfield has a "ground to sky" policy where there can be no tree branches or limbs within 10 feet of any power wire. That decreases the chance that a part of a tree will fall on a wire and take it out. Foxborough, which does not own the power lines like Mansfield, does not have a town policy on trees near power outages.

“That’s something we need to make a decision on. Do we want to follow that type of model?” Hatfield said.

The remark came during a discussion with National Grid on the recent snowstorms. Overall, the selectmen were happy with the response in 2018 compared to the 2011 and 2012 storms. Since the storms of six years ago, National Grid has spent $20 million on work to upgrade and maintain the supply line that brings power to Foxborough known as the Union Loop, including tree work and a new substation across from Gillette Stadium.

While tree clearing may cut down on outages, it would not have prevented them this winter. The three major storms of the season saw winds over 45 mph and the one from early March had winds over 70 mph, along with trees that were ripped from the ground before crashing into power lines and substations. That meant outages for nearly every town in the area.

“I can tell you the storm in recent years are much more severe than what I'm used to. That "ground to sky" policy may be more timely to discuss. We’re getting to the point where it’s much more difficult to maintain those lines without a tree policy,” Town Manager Bill Keegan said.

Following that storm, must of Foxborough was in the dark for about two days. While frustrating for many residents, it was still a shorter period for many areas of the South Shore which were out for nearly a week and was a vast improvement over the days-long outages that struck the town in 2011 and 2012.

Selectmen Chairperson David Feldman said the board was going to look at a tree clearing policy.

Image: File Photo