Powerful winds down wires, raise waves
 
Stiff winds stirred Lake Michigan on Saturday to the delight of surfers, but the gusts of 45 mph that kicked up 6-foot waves also shook trees to the ground and forced a medical helicopter to an alternative landing area.

Kirk Bierens and three of his friends were among a handful of surfers lining the Grand Haven lakeshore to take advantage of a wind advisory that lasted through Sunday.

"This is how we love it," said Bierens, a 32-year-old Grand Rapids man who is a youth pastor at Grace Fellowship in Plainfield Township. "You fight the wind, the waves and the current and it's hard knocks, but it's worth it," he said.
 
 
 
"The waves were as big as we've seen them this time of year."

While Bierens reveled in the whipping whirls, a flight crew with Spectrum Health's Aero Med helicopter service chose not to risk landing on top of the downtown Spectrum Butterworth campus building, turning to a secondary site in the parking lot of Fifth Third Ballpark in Comstock Park.

Bruce Rossman, a Spectrum spokesman, said emergency transport teams opt for the ballpark strip about two times per month when they are flying in from northern Michigan. When flying from the south in inclement weather, the helicopter lands at Gerald R. Ford International Airport. In each instance, an ambulance is waiting, he said.

"The gusts are tough to handle when they get to where they are and could go higher," Rossman said. "It would be very irresponsible to land a chopper in that type of condition."

Across the region, police dispatch centers received calls of toppled trees and downed electrical wires. In Spring Lake Township, a tree landed on a house, pulled down a power line and briefly blocked a road.

A spokesman for the Grand Haven Board of Light and Power said service was interrupted to 1,500 customers at 2:15 p.m. Saturday when high wind knocked down a tree along North Shore Drive, which tripped a power line.

The affected customers were in the North Shore Drive area near the Grand Haven/Ferrysburg border. Power was restored within two hours, said BLP spokesman Jon Hofman.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Consumers Energy said 511 customers in Muskegon and Ottawa counties lost power around 1:15 p.m. Saturday. The spokesman could not pinpoint exact locations, but said service was restored to all customers by 4:15 p.m. Saturday.

Chronicle News Service * Rob Kurtcz

Kirk Bierens, of Grand Rapids, takes a break Saturday from surfing at Grand Haven State Park.

GRAND HAVEN