Below are 2 letters, one from a group of professional engineers to Len Garis, and the second is Garis’s response. Len Garis, as you will recall from my fire report, was commissioned and paid by BC Hydro to determine if smeters have caused fires. Garis reviewed a high level of info. in the Provincial Fire Commissioner’s annual report showing only the number of electrical fires. We now know that not all electrical fires are reported to the fire commissioner, and for those fires that are reported, a significant proportion are classified as “undetermined.” From this inaccurate, incomplete data Garis concluded that there had been no $$meter fires because the number of electrical fires reported had decreased since the first $$meters had been installed. The electrical engineers wrote about serious concerns and Garis responded in a flippant and arrogant manner, basically saying he knows better. He has no training to compare to that of an electrical engineer. He is a consultant paid by Hydro. Again, this shows no one is concerned about our safety or the safety of fire fighters. Letters: Read from the bottom up: On Jan 16, 2015, at 1:56 PM, Grover, Julie wrote: The following email is sent on behalf of Fire Chief Garis, Surrey Fire Service. January 16, 2014 (sic) To whom it may concern, As you may know, I have worked in the fire service since 1980, am the Fire Chief for the City of Surrey, B.C., former President of the Fire Chiefs Association of British Columbia and an Adjunct Professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of the Fraser Valley. My interest in BC Hydro’s Smart Metering Program relates to how it will impact firefighting procedures and its potential contribution to improved public safety in B.C. I am confident comments made in my January 10, 2012 letter regarding BC Hydro’s Smart Metering Program, and by my reports, “Assessing the Fire Safety of Smart Meter Installations in British Columbia”, originally publis hed in August 2012, updated in September 2013 and Revisited June 2014, are accurate and well intentioned. With regard to remote de-energization, in the January 2012 letter you reference, I wrote that: …this system will allow the power supply to a home or business to be disconnected remotely during a fire. While waiting for the BC Hydro power line crew to arrive and disconnect at the utility pole, BC Hydro can remotely de-energize at the meter, allowing for interim access inside the premises. It is standard practice for BC Hydro to attend structural fires if there is concern that the fire may be electrical, or if the electrical supply must be disconnected during or before the fire is contained. As I wrote, remotely disconnecting power would provide firefighters with interim safe access prior to BC Hydro crews arriving. I am confident that firefighters will follow the appropriate procedures to ensure if it is safe for them to proceed with an entry to contain a fire inside a building as required. I did not comment on the testing, approval or working of the remote de-energization switch contained within the new meter, and suggest that you forward any questions you have in this regard directly to BC Hydro at smartmeters@bchydro. With regard to over-voltage protection, in the same January 2012 letter I wrote that: The old electromechanical meters used only grounding for surge protection, while digital meters can protect up to a 385 volt surge. Smart meters can protect up to 575 volts providing further protection for the customer. In rare situations of a high power surge, the meter will stop the surge from travelling into a building. The information regarding surge protection was provided by BC Hydro, and refers to the fact that the new meters will help to minimize the impacts of a power surge. You may be interested to hear that instances of electrical fires are extremely low in British Columbia, and that data the BC Fire Service reports show that such fires are declining. In my professional experience, the best actions members of the public can take to protect themselves from fire are installing smoke detectors and testing them monthly. Sincerely, Len Garis City of Surrey Fire Services From: Date: December 24, 2014 at 9:21:30 AM PST To: [email protected] , jessica.mcdonald@bchydro , greg.reimer@bchydro , [email protected] , [email protected] , [email protected] , [email protected] , [email protected] , Complaints@bcuc , [email protected] , [email protected] Subject: Concerned Engineers - Not Spam By hard copy to: FIRE CHIEFS’ ASSOCIATION OF BC #9 – 715 Barrera Ro ad Kelowna, BC V1W 3C9 Fire Chief Len W. Garis By email to :[email protected] Concerned Professional Engineers 23 December 2014 Mr. Garis, We have recently received a copy of your letter dated 10 January 2012 addressed to “All BC Fire Departments” with the Subject “BC Hydro Smart Metering Program,” and your August 2014 update. As Professional Engineers we offer some words of caution because the information contained within your 2012 letter may provide a misleading sense of safety to anyone involved in electrical related incidents. We quote from your 2012 letter: 1. Enable Remote De-Energization” “BC Hydro can remotely de-energize at the meter, allowing for interim access inside the premises. Unquote. Comment: The remotely-operated disconnect switch in the meter base does not carry any CSA Certification for its use as a means of safely and effectively isolating the electrical power supply to the premises. BC Hydro has refused to provide documentation for the testing results of the switch and certification for its use. It is not clear what part of the meter is switched off as we assume that the Power Company can still operate the solenoid via Wi-Fi to re-energize the meter when deemed necessary. A service disconnect switch that is used to safely isolate power must be certified by the Canadian Standards Association CSA for that specific purpose, among its other duties. That requires that the switch must be designed with the proper clearances, between phases, and between phase-to-ground. After the switch has been opened, the clearances must be adequate to provide a safe, proven isolation for someone to work safely on the disconnected part of the electrical system, otherwise it cannot be verified that it is safe to enter the site. Based on information contained within fire reports, there is a distinct possibility leading up to or during an incident that something might be wrong with the switch and/or the meter itself. The software Wi-Fi signal from the Power Company to operate the switch remotely has not been certified as a safe method. A software signal (if that exists) sent back to Hydro that the switch has opened successfully might be erroneous. During and after a fire, there is NO ASSURANCE that the meter has not caused the fire, but the Power Company could still try to remotely operate the switch, thus possibly adding to the danger. If the Firefighters follow your information, they are risking their lives and perhaps others too, if the energy source has not been safely disconnected by a failed or faulty switch. To date there are many B.C. fire reports which describe involvement of the smart meter in fires and overheating. BC Hydro has a large number of claims for damages to homeowners’ property due to incidents involving smart meters, dating from September 2011 to September 2014. Why don’t these show up in your reports of the same time period? A secondary issue: The meter’s battery manufacturer states that when fighting a fire involving the Lithium-Ion battery, a Class “D” extinguisher must be used, not water. See the Tadiran Web site for the specific MSDS information at: tadiran/index.php/product-spec-sheet-directory. 2. Over-voltage Protection We quote your words: “the meter will stop the surge from traveling into a building. Unquote. There has been no Canadian testing documentation provided by the Power Company to support that comment. Your comment is a simplification of a complex subject, and has NOT been proven by experience. On the contrary, there are still major incidents (for example Summerland) where high voltage surges travel into homes along the electrical service wires, and this phenomenon is so unpredictable that to make assurances like yours can provide a false sense of safety. Homeowners could try to protect their property by the installation of a surge suppressor at their electrical panel, but that would not assure total protection. We trust that his letter will improve the understanding by your Fire Departments of a complex situation, Signed: Concerned Professional Engineers.
Posted on: Sun, 18 Jan 2015 18:53:54 +0000
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