Several leaning poles line Provost Street in Lachine. (Photo submitted by Maria Luise Neuper)Residents in at least two Montreal neighbourhoods say they're concerned about the safety of hydro poles on their streets.

In Hochelaga-Maisonneuve and NDG, leaning poles have crashed to the ground in recent weeks, causing damage.

CBC has spoken to several residents who contacted Hydro-Québec and municipal authorities about problem poles near their homes.

A hydro pole crashed outside Jennifer McKinley's building. (Photo submitted by Jennifer McKinley)All say their concerns aren't being taken seriously.

"I knew this would happen," said Jennifer McKinley, a Hingston Ave. resident who recounted her near-miss with a rotting pole that leaned precariously outside her home for years. "You knew it was going to fall, it was obvious."

McKinley says she had been outside her building one day last month with her niece when they stepped inside momentarily, right before the pole fell down, crashing onto a car owned by another tenant in the building.

She's angry that Hydro-Québec didn't fix the pole, despite repeated warnings from the public. McKinley said she called the power utility and the City of Montreal several times in the last year, and was told someone would come to investigate.

The only Hydro-Québec worker McKinley said she ever saw on the street told her the pole was fine. It fell two months later.

She says she is more careful now. "I'm cautious about where I park my car," she said. "I'm more cautious now than I ever was before."

Hydro pole like 'a convention centre for termites'

Hochelaga-Maisonneuve resident Ross Robins says he is frustrated at how the power utility fails to maintain its infrastructure, after three poles fell on his street corner last Friday.

This hydro pole fell at the corner of Fullum and Logan Streets last week. (Photo submitted by Naomi Kramer)His wife Naomi Kramer was at home when the poles came crashing down at the corner of Fullum and Logan Streets around 3 p.m.

"This is not what we call force majeure, or an act of God," Robins said in a CBC interview. "One of the poles was rotten to the core, rotten at the base, and toppled over, and brought two other poles with it."

"I imagine Hydro-Québec's legal department is breathing a collective sigh of relief because there weren't very many people around," he added.

Robins said he surveyed the neighbourhood for other suspect poles, and found at least one "that looked like it was a convention centre for termites."

"We take for granted that certain aspects of our infrastructure are solid, but we find out that isn't the case," he said.

Hydro-Québec should do its corporate civic duty and review its poles, he said. "They have to depend on wooden poles, and they should review them on a regular basis."

The power utility declined CBC's interview requests, but said the falling poles were "very rare" occurrences.