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Crime & Safety

Royal Oak Fire Department, EMS, DTE Keep Busy with Storm-Related Work

Second major storm within two weeks keeps crews working round the clock.

The Royal Oak Fire Department, EMS and DTE Energy crews were kept very busy this holiday weekend responding to downed power lines, restoring power to customers and assisting attendees at Arts, Beats & Eats.

Public safety is the No. 1 priority, Royal Oak Fire Chief Chuck Thomas said.

The fire department had 105 runs this past weekend for either downed power lines or medical assistance, but no fires, Thomas said. In addition, the city's EMS crews treated more than 500 people at the first aid tent at Arts, Beats & Eats for "everything from Band-aids for scraped knees to heat exhaustion."

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As for storm damage, "I'm not sure where DTE is in its repair work, but downed power lines are our biggest concern," he said Tuesday morning. "If you see a downed power line, stay away from it. The whole fence could be charged."

"Even if there is a line on a fence five houses down from you, don't touch your fence," he said. "And if you have aluminum siding and you have a downed power line, do not go into your house."

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DTE recalls crews for Michigan work

Meanwhile, DTE crews continued to work to restore power to residents. More than 100,000 customers across southeast Michigan – including nearly 7,000 in Royal Oak – were without power after powerful winds and rain blew through Saturday.

"DTE has more than 1,000 linemen out today and we've called in 83 mutual assistance contract crews," DTE Energy spokesman John Austerberry said Tuesday.

In addition, DTE crews that were sent to assist the recent storm cleanup along the East Coast are back and working in Michigan, Austerberry said. "The 70 crews sent to assist with Hurricane Irene were all called back and arrived Saturday and were in the field on Sunday," he said.

Each of the 83 mutual assistance crews consists of three workers who have been at work since Saturday morning, Austerberry said. With 1,500 Royal Oak customers still without power as of Tuesday afternoon, DTE "expects to have almost everyone restored by tonight. There are some pockets of heavy damage and those could still not be working tomorrow."

"We have a significant amount of manpower out there today," he said Tuesday.

Banner, pole fall from the sky

Also this weekend, Thomas said, was an aerial advertising banner that fell from the sky above Seventh Street in Royal Oak during Arts, Beats & Eats.

Thomas said a lead pole that is used at the start of a banner to keep it upright while flying fell through a woman's garage roof and "scared the living daylights out of her." No one was hurt, he said. "It might have been different if it fell on Washington (Avenue)," Thomas said.

Officials from the Oakland/Troy Airport and Oakland County International Airport in Waterford and DTE could not confirm the fallen banner Tuesday afternoon.

Damage cleanup

Dennis "Moose" Kapa was trying to get his life back in order this morning after a neighbor's tree fell across his driveway and onto his roof Saturday during the storm. The tree heavily damaged two 2005 Jeeps, punctured his roof and ripped off his porch awning.

On Tuesday, Kapa had his roof covered and a rental car was parked in his driveway. He said he's impressed with his insurance company.  "They came bright and early Sunday morning and cleaned things up," he said.

Ironically, after storms also hit Clawson a couple of weeks ago, Kapa said he "went up there and grabbed some wood."

"I like to burn wood, so I brought it home and cut it up," he said. He has plenty of wood to burn now.

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