Once more, as you said, burying them would solve the problem. Hence burying them is covering them or encasing them. Sheild them is some god damn way, it is possible. Dont tell me it's not.
If you encase the transformer in a shell or case or something then mylar ballons or small animals cant get tangled up and short the transformer out. No exposed wires means no shorts !
Ummm , how about covering the damn transformers to start with. They didn't take reasonable care to prevent the problem. We should sue RWS for the outage.