RICHMOND HEIGHTS, Ohio (WOIO) - A Richmond Heights man spent five days without power after a storm snapped a utility pole in his backyard — and said FirstEnergy repeatedly failed to respond to his calls for help.
Samuel Johnson Jr., an Army veteran and member of the Cleveland Wheelchair Cavaliers, said he lost power Friday when strong storms and winds broke a utility pole in half, leaving downed live wires across his backyard. His neighbors’ power was restored within hours. His was not.
Johnson said he called FirstEnergy every day following the outage but no one came to assess the damage.
“It is just the fact that their power was on in hours, less than three hours,” Johnson said. “I am going on Wednesday with no one coming out, no one knocking at the door, nothing.”
A FirstEnergy log entry dated March 17 at 6:30 p.m. noted that additional crews had been requested, but Johnson said no one had come to his home.
“Ain’t nobody been out here,” he said.
Johnson said he first learned of the damage from a neighbor shortly after the storm.
“He was like, ‘Wheels, your pole is snapped in two and it’s pulling from the house,’” Johnson said.
After Johnson contacted the 19 Troubleshooters, we called FirstEnergy directly.
Within approximately two hours, crews arrived at Johnson’s home on White Way Drive with a new pole and began repairs.
“I want you to come out here and fix this today. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Today,” Johnson said.
Johnson, who served as a U.S. Army combat medic for five years, said he was gifted a generator by the VA, which provided some relief during the outage.
He said he remained frustrated with how he was treated by the utility company.
“I didn’t break it, I am not responsible for it, it is your responsibility, but yet I have to chase you down to do your job,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he is scheduled to leave next week for a wheelchair basketball championship with the Cleveland Wheelchair Cavaliers and wanted the power restored before his departure.
Crews were on scene and actively working to fix the problem at the time of the report.
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