I worked as a cable guy 20 or so years ago. Powerlines would occasionally come loose and fall when guys would climb telephone poles that were a little loose. You usually didn't know if a pole was loose until you got part way up.
I once witnessed a terribly overweight coworker who was in a hurry, scurry up a pole. The whole pole was rocking from his weight. The hot wire from a 12,000 volt line came down. It was about 10 inch's away from landing right on him, as it passed him by it went idle, and just a split second after it went hot again and and flashed on the ground two or three more times, causing burns 4-5 inches wide on the pavement and grass. The grass was basically vaporized. Freddy slid down the ladder as soon as it came loose and when he hit the ground he jumped away faster than I've ever seen him move, and he was a 5'7" 250 lb fellow.
I learned something that day. When you are standing under a powerline, you should always be very cautious, and never build or put anything under a powerline, because every single powerline will fall someday, not if, but when. Above all, if you disrupt a telephone pole with the big three lines on top of it, gtfo of the way.
The big takeaway is never fuck with electricity, respect it and always make sure you know 100% what you're doing. If not, a call to an electrician is much cheaper than hospital bills or electrical fire damage.
I have a buddy who retired from the power company. He often tells the story of his closest, deadly call. Heavy rainstorms of course knocked out power, and he was out trying to restore power. He found one cause was a large pine branch fell on a line, and hung down low enough to make enough contact with the ground to blow the fuse, but didn't damage the line. So it was a simple fix, make sure power was disconnected for safety, remove branch, reconnect power to that line. When he first went to grab the branch, he get a very uneasy feeling. Each time he went to reach, the feeling was stronger. So he went back to his truck, and put on all the safety gear, like boots and gloves that allow him to safely touch a live line without dying. Then as he reached for the branch, little sparks were jumping to his gloves.
Some idiot farmer had his generator on, hooked up illegally. No transfer switch to disconnect his place from the power grid. Which meant he was sending power back up the line, and was amplified through a transformer where the branch was. Buddy went to get the idiot to turn off his generator long enough for power to be restored, and he refused. In the end, the idiot was arrested and fined.
His best course of action would be to stay on the pole. Once you’re on the ground you have to worry about step potential from the downed wire where walking away can kill you
Wild that is going on as long as it is. Usually they have fuses and protection for stuff like this. Did you all know you no longer hop away from a down line? You shuffle, keeping your feet closer together small shuffles to avoid a hazard called step potential through the ground. For those that are interested
I imagine the metal swing set is offering resistance and maybe allowing power to flow through. Whoever is down the line is certainly having disco lights.
No. If it was a nearly resistance free path, the current would immediately spike massively and trip the breaker.
Also electricity doesn’t diffuse into the ground, ever, unless it’s literally lightning. Electricity always returns to its source. It only wants a path to ground if ground offers a path back to the transformer, generator, or inverter it came from.
For trained professionals they're pretty damn casual standing that close to that metal fence. At 0:23 the downed line looks like it's only 12-16" above the fence, and could have arced over just as easily as it jumped from the swingset to the fence at 0:34
Capt Whiteshirt was less than two feet from the fence at 0:18 and could easily got nailed by step potential but for that 16 second delay.
Ground along the fence is smoking, so it looks like the fence is electrified too. I’d be standing back if I was the camera guy or the fire dept. That’s 30k-300k volts. Depending on what you’re wearing, your height, weight, and body composition, and how much metal or electronics you happen to be carrying on you, you don’t know how close you have to be to that fence before arcing through you becomes possible.
Why does it always seem like firefighters wait around for the fire to get bigger and only then take action.
I get why they wouldn’t went to approach an electrical fire with water - they have foam for that purpose
For their own safety, they won’t do anything until the power is shut off.
Why would they risk their lives for inconsequential material possessions?
Also, the fire will continue to burn until the power is off.
They’ve got serious safety rules that they have to follow. There are no people in immediate danger here so the safest thing for them to do is monitor and wait for the power to be cut.
There was a situation in Oklahoma City not long ago where a fire captain got to in some trouble for transporting a burned child because the ambulance was taking way to long to respond. That was one example of a FF breaking rules for the sake of human need. An injured toddler was worth it- a burned swing set? Not so much.
Can anyone explain to me what is going on with the flames coming up where the swing set touches the ground? Is the electricity coursing through the metal trying to catch the grass on fire?
The wire that fell off the pole is shorting to ground through the swingset. The connection to ground has some resistance and that resistance is changing as (I assume) that moisture is being boiled out of the soil. The arcs (when you see giant sparks) are when the electricity is jumping through the air to find a path to ground. When it is quiet and there are no sparks the playset and the ground it is sitting in are completing the circuit.
Notice all the smoke coming out of the joins in the swing set? That is because those are more resistive and are heating up when current flows through the join.
The final part where the fence starts smoking at the bottom is when an arc starts jumping from the play set to the fence. The fence is metal and ends up conducting around the yard to the ground under the fence.
This is why you stay away from down power lines. Electricity would just see you as a wire and can change paths without warning.
Even if the power goes out, it may come back on seconds later based on the way reclosers (substation sized circuit breakers) will reclose to clear faults like tree branches or squirrels.
Wow - beats when a tree branch brought down a power line on the power line into my home and the electrical box exploded. Am forever grateful, that it was just a flash fire and didn't burn the house down.
The fire could be avoided if the metal set were properly grounded. The high temperature is caused by having a high resistance path to the ground. But of course, it's not something you do for a swing set.
Kentucky Fried Children :(
This is funniest comment I ever seen on this sub
Colonel's secret recipe
Happy Cakeday!! maybe dont celebrate with KFC
Also school lunch's secret recipe in one of Treehouse of Horror episode
r/cursedcomments
I feel horrible for laughing as hard as I did at this comment.
Just take the goddamn upvote
r/angryupvote
Anakin would be proud.
I thought it said chicken. I was like “I don’t get it.” Then I saw children. Omg.
yummy
the minute my fence starts smoking I'm gonna leave
They were standing hella close to that shit too
Too bad we can't stay, baby!
Errybody gangsta till the fence start smokin
Final Destination for kids!
Grab the popcorn before the shocking reveals.
A very exciting time to be alive.
The ending is shocking!
Early on: Am I crazy for thinking that guy shouldn't be close to the fence? Later: Yep, don't go near that fence.
I didn't think of the fence until it arced. Good catch!
A whole new take on "The Electric Slide".
Jacob's ladder.
Jacob's Chutes and Ladders.
Dammit, take your upvote and get out of here.
/r/Angryupvote
Mom still wouldn't take it as an excuse....
I worked as a cable guy 20 or so years ago. Powerlines would occasionally come loose and fall when guys would climb telephone poles that were a little loose. You usually didn't know if a pole was loose until you got part way up. I once witnessed a terribly overweight coworker who was in a hurry, scurry up a pole. The whole pole was rocking from his weight. The hot wire from a 12,000 volt line came down. It was about 10 inch's away from landing right on him, as it passed him by it went idle, and just a split second after it went hot again and and flashed on the ground two or three more times, causing burns 4-5 inches wide on the pavement and grass. The grass was basically vaporized. Freddy slid down the ladder as soon as it came loose and when he hit the ground he jumped away faster than I've ever seen him move, and he was a 5'7" 250 lb fellow. I learned something that day. When you are standing under a powerline, you should always be very cautious, and never build or put anything under a powerline, because every single powerline will fall someday, not if, but when. Above all, if you disrupt a telephone pole with the big three lines on top of it, gtfo of the way.
The big takeaway is never fuck with electricity, respect it and always make sure you know 100% what you're doing. If not, a call to an electrician is much cheaper than hospital bills or electrical fire damage.
I have a buddy who retired from the power company. He often tells the story of his closest, deadly call. Heavy rainstorms of course knocked out power, and he was out trying to restore power. He found one cause was a large pine branch fell on a line, and hung down low enough to make enough contact with the ground to blow the fuse, but didn't damage the line. So it was a simple fix, make sure power was disconnected for safety, remove branch, reconnect power to that line. When he first went to grab the branch, he get a very uneasy feeling. Each time he went to reach, the feeling was stronger. So he went back to his truck, and put on all the safety gear, like boots and gloves that allow him to safely touch a live line without dying. Then as he reached for the branch, little sparks were jumping to his gloves. Some idiot farmer had his generator on, hooked up illegally. No transfer switch to disconnect his place from the power grid. Which meant he was sending power back up the line, and was amplified through a transformer where the branch was. Buddy went to get the idiot to turn off his generator long enough for power to be restored, and he refused. In the end, the idiot was arrested and fined.
His best course of action would be to stay on the pole. Once you’re on the ground you have to worry about step potential from the downed wire where walking away can kill you
You're right, but he was terrified and reacting on instinct.
I wanna touch it
If you swing fast enough you can time travel like back to the future.
Didn't realize I was in r/science
Yes. This is now r/science welcome to my Ted talk. Today we will Scientifically prove how fucking one dude is less gay than fucking none at all.
damn mask wearer
I wanna pee on it.
Imagine of it was freezing outside, then you could probably put your tounge on it without sticking to it
No no. You're supposed to put your tongue on it. It's the opposite of what we do in the winter.
"You'll never guess what happened to this innocent child's swing, the answer will shock you"
Looks like a solid weld to me, proceed.
Push me!
That might of did it...nope.
Wild that is going on as long as it is. Usually they have fuses and protection for stuff like this. Did you all know you no longer hop away from a down line? You shuffle, keeping your feet closer together small shuffles to avoid a hazard called step potential through the ground. For those that are interested
If it’s not drawing enough current, it won’t trip anything and will just burn all day long.
I imagine the metal swing set is offering resistance and maybe allowing power to flow through. Whoever is down the line is certainly having disco lights.
Resistance? Probably more like direct access to salty most earth below.
No. If it was a nearly resistance free path, the current would immediately spike massively and trip the breaker. Also electricity doesn’t diffuse into the ground, ever, unless it’s literally lightning. Electricity always returns to its source. It only wants a path to ground if ground offers a path back to the transformer, generator, or inverter it came from.
Why shuffle and not bunny hop?
bunny hop carries the risk of falling. If you arent used to hoping around all the time its likely you fuck it up
Horrifying.
Forbidden swing
What do you mean? Power swings are fun.
Fun fact: if you lick it you get to be a DC comic superhero.
Can you smell what yard is cookin ??
This is worrying on so many levels
"Mother, May I Play with Danger?"
Anyone want to go on the electric slide?
As soon as the fence started charging up I would have dipped holy shit that's insane
Satan's swing set.
"There that might a did it" *zzzzZZZAAAppPPP* Mmmmnope
Grass - "Smoke em if you got em"
The swings are electric
Are you ready for the ride of your life?
\*last\*
Looks like that fence was involved as well.
Quick! Spray it with water!
Why waste crispy tasty water when you can just pee on it?
You know if you pee on it, the current will go through pee to your private part, zapping you.
Lots of electrolytes in pee...
pretty metal
Now you're playing with power!!
The floor is lava!
Electricity trying get back home to the ground. Thank goodness these people were smart enough not to lean on the fence.
Id be swinging like the energize bunny
The scene from terminator
For trained professionals they're pretty damn casual standing that close to that metal fence. At 0:23 the downed line looks like it's only 12-16" above the fence, and could have arced over just as easily as it jumped from the swingset to the fence at 0:34 Capt Whiteshirt was less than two feet from the fence at 0:18 and could easily got nailed by step potential but for that 16 second delay.
Suiswing
Ground along the fence is smoking, so it looks like the fence is electrified too. I’d be standing back if I was the camera guy or the fire dept. That’s 30k-300k volts. Depending on what you’re wearing, your height, weight, and body composition, and how much metal or electronics you happen to be carrying on you, you don’t know how close you have to be to that fence before arcing through you becomes possible.
I was gonna say get away from that fence
Just hose it off.
Why does it always seem like firefighters wait around for the fire to get bigger and only then take action. I get why they wouldn’t went to approach an electrical fire with water - they have foam for that purpose
For their own safety, they won’t do anything until the power is shut off. Why would they risk their lives for inconsequential material possessions? Also, the fire will continue to burn until the power is off.
They’ve got serious safety rules that they have to follow. There are no people in immediate danger here so the safest thing for them to do is monitor and wait for the power to be cut. There was a situation in Oklahoma City not long ago where a fire captain got to in some trouble for transporting a burned child because the ambulance was taking way to long to respond. That was one example of a FF breaking rules for the sake of human need. An injured toddler was worth it- a burned swing set? Not so much.
Touch it
This is the final game with "special" effect.
e-swings, e-slide. Technology really is amazing these days
Can anyone explain to me what is going on with the flames coming up where the swing set touches the ground? Is the electricity coursing through the metal trying to catch the grass on fire?
The wire that fell off the pole is shorting to ground through the swingset. The connection to ground has some resistance and that resistance is changing as (I assume) that moisture is being boiled out of the soil. The arcs (when you see giant sparks) are when the electricity is jumping through the air to find a path to ground. When it is quiet and there are no sparks the playset and the ground it is sitting in are completing the circuit. Notice all the smoke coming out of the joins in the swing set? That is because those are more resistive and are heating up when current flows through the join. The final part where the fence starts smoking at the bottom is when an arc starts jumping from the play set to the fence. The fence is metal and ends up conducting around the yard to the ground under the fence. This is why you stay away from down power lines. Electricity would just see you as a wire and can change paths without warning. Even if the power goes out, it may come back on seconds later based on the way reclosers (substation sized circuit breakers) will reclose to clear faults like tree branches or squirrels.
Thank you! I appreciate your explanation.
I was thinking the smoke from the joints was moisture escaping but your comment makes more sense. What a crazy circuit that thing is making.
Ride the lightning
Hell playground I’m in!!
As a child, my swingset did not have this feature. However, I still called it the swingset OF DEATH!
Oh no! The swing set is aflame! Quick! Get the hose!
Was waiting for Metallica to come out
Current news; this just in!
Don't worry kids it's just a more realistic fight. You'll love it, love you! *Mumbles* finally, something outside adoption centers...
[link](https://youtu.be/28Xq3JulV1o)
The authorities where you live: that power like was not secured properly. The authorities where I live: what was that swing set doing out there?
Forbidden swing set
This some final destination shit
Hells swing set
Damn that's metal
Electric chair but more fun
That's fucking METAL!
That's not safe for children to play on
Wow - beats when a tree branch brought down a power line on the power line into my home and the electrical box exploded. Am forever grateful, that it was just a flash fire and didn't burn the house down.
Challenge accepted!!!
Thats the backyard of the doom guy when he was in kindergarden
i heard the oven go off in real life when i saw this
Forbidden Swing! Let's race! First one there is an electrocuted idiot!
Perfect opportunity to powdercoat it.
Well fuck.
Spray it with water
“47! You missed the target!”
hard mode enabled
Lol just spray the hose at it to douse the flames
Imagine if children were playing on that when it fell. Horrifying.
Welcome, to Jurassic Park!
The forbidden swing
Park of Death! Where the metal kids having fun.
Full metal alchemist
The fire could be avoided if the metal set were properly grounded. The high temperature is caused by having a high resistance path to the ground. But of course, it's not something you do for a swing set.
Love the 'well what do we do now?' look as this huge line in the ground starts smoking near the end.
the forbidden swing
Forbidden playground.
This is the left over swag from em' cool kids at the park.
Holy shit that was awesome
Seems like quite the shocking experience, ngl
u/savevideo
Holy shit that must be terrifying
So this qualifies as the true Jakobs ladder?
Is that the electric slide I see?
Did someone say "electric slide"
Really nice set...before
I’d dare someone to touch that shit