State investigation underway after woman dies from downed power line

A 72-year-old woman's death due to a downed power line is now the subject of a state probe. 

The Michigan Public Service Commission is investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of Dorothy Adams, along with DTE Energy's recent weather-related outages. 

The Commission wants to know how recent storms impacted DTE's electric distribution system; what it did to prepare and respond to the storms; and whether changes should be made to reduce the potential for death, injury, and widespread power outages.

According to a Detroit Fire Department radio call, which you can hear in the video player above, DTE cordoned off the same alley where Adams came in contact with a downed wire that was left unattended.

Last week, FOX 2 reported that Detroit's Fire Department gave a standing order to firefighters to tape off downed power lines and leave -- a directive that contradicts the department's severe weather policy, which states fire companies sitting on dangerous downed wires cannot leave the scene until properly relieved. 

As for the state's probe into DTE, the Commission is concerned its electrical distribution system is unable to provide safe and reliable service during large storms, as the law requires.

DTE says it's working to better educate customers about the dangers of downed wires.

It's also beefing up infrastructure and trimming trees to limit the impact of severe weather.