Opinion: Florida Power, explain the failure

Over and over again, emergency workers called the Florida Power dispatcher for help as 21-year-old Andrew Miller sat dying in his crushed vehicle, a live electrical wire preventing anyone from reaching him:

8:13 p.m.: "We need your assistance as soon as possible. We have a pole down . . . on top of a car, wires all over the road with fire in the vehicle."

8:17 p.m.: "This guy has a wire actually on him. He's barely breathing . . ."

8:32 p.m.: ". . .Do you know where your truck is? We can't even touch this patient yet."

8:39 p.m.: "We are still going to need you out there, but we believe now the guy is deceased."

It is crystal clear to anyone who reads those excerpts that on the night of Dec. 11, a life-or-death scenario was playing out on the side of Starkey Road in Largo. Miller had slammed his car into a utility pole, and a live 7,200-volt power line had fallen on the car. Largo firefighters could see that an unconscious Miller still was breathing inside the wreckage, but they couldn't get to him without risking electrocution.

Five times, using a direct line set up for 911 emergencies, they called Florida Power, the only organization with workers trained in the dangerous task of removing live electrical wires. They were assured repeatedly that a crew working some five miles due south of the accident was on the way.

But the crew didn't arrive for 37 minutes. By then, Miller was dead.

What does Florida Power have to say about that? Virtually nothing. While company officials confirm they are conducting an internal investigation, they won't talk about the parameters or status of the investigation, whether any employees face discipline, or just what went wrong that night. They have not taken responsibility, and they have not apologized.

Florida Power officials met with the St. Petersburg Times recently but said that any discussion of the Miller accident was off-limits because of possible litigation. They would talk only about a meeting they had with county fire chiefs, called by the chiefs after the accident, at which they agreed to some changes to improve communication between rescue agencies and Florida Power.

What's the biggest change? In the future, rescuers will use this phrase when calling for life-saving assistance from the power company: "This is a life-threatening incident."

That's semantics, not a solution. In the Miller case, emergency workers made it clear to Florida Power that a life-threatening situation existed. Yet the crew still took an outrageous 37 minutes to reach the scene.

A more promising idea under discussion is to provide police escorts for power crews on the way to an accident. An escort would allow crews to run red lights and pass vehicles when a life hangs in the balance.

Florida Power has no legal obligation to do anything more. No government agency has authority to demand accountability from the company or discipline it for negligence on Dec. 11. Florida Power is so busy protecting itself from a possible lawsuit that it feels no obligation to share with the public what, if anything, it will do to prevent a recurrence of that night's events.

That's just not good enough. Florida Power is a public utility, blessed with the opportunity to deliver electric power in this monopoly market, but also entrusted with a potentially life-saving role in emergencies and natural disasters. Florida Power failed in that role on Dec. 11. It owes the public an explanation and reassurance.

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