Vandals cut down Surrey hydro poles to steal copper

Vandals cut down two hydro poles in Surrey last weekend, then stripped thetransformers of their copper wire, according to BC Hydro.

Utilityspokeswoman Mora Scott said the thieves used chainsaws to fell two poles,a highly dangerous activity that could have harmed the perpetrators, Hydro employees or members of the public.

• Copper wire theft beinginvestigated in Langley, B.C

The electrical equipment attached to one of the poles, which was located near a vacant building, wasde-energized,

But in the second case, an attached power line had 25,000 volts of electricity running through it when it was brought down, causing a grass fire.

Hydro is asking the public to report any suspicious activity around power infrastructure.

A downed power line is dangerousand should be reported to 911.

The utilityis working with the RCMP to investigate the two cases

Four years ago, theprovince moved to clamp down on metal theft by passing a law that requires thosewho deal with high-value metal such as copperto record details of every transaction and then provide them to police.