BostonBull
New Member
This is a cross post from the General forum, I thought it would fit well here too.
We were working 4 poles down from 3 line crews today. We were doing a large hazard removal for the current power upgrade these workers were brought in to do. There was a 13.8kV Hendrix circuit, and they are adding 2 more 10' above this one.
I got in the truck to back it up a few feet, set the air brake and hit the PTO button. I looked up to view the work down the road and all I saw was an orange fireball envelope the entire street and line trucks, then thick black smoke. The explosion wasn't a loud "blast" it was a deep bass sounding explosion. 2 phases of the Hendrix circuit touched and melted to the ground while a worker was repairing weather cracks in the jacket of one of the phases. Luckily the lines were in NON re-close, and they were dead as soon as they flashed. The third phase had half of its strands broken.
The crew jumped into action INSTANTLY and had the man down faster than I could start to walk down to see what had happened. All of the crews had police details, NOT FLAGGERS!, and this man had 6 police officers on scene instantly and within 1-2 minutes, fire, EMS, and electric light company on site. Forever impressed with how fast this rescue and response happened.
By the time I walked the 1000' the injured worker was sitting on the steps on the side of the truck. His hardhat, glasses, shirt, and full body harness were all burned off of him. He was awake, talking, and could see. He had his left arm still in what was left of his fire retardant shirt, and paramedics were feverishly cutting it off. He was burned down to his facial muscles on 3/4 of his face, had no hair left, and his entire torso had burns from his pants up. I think the bucket must have ended at where his pants began? His fire retardant clothing did its job and protected him, and his crew clearly saved his life. They applied gel blankets and packs for electrical burns instantly.
I will never forget the man without a face staring across the road at me and my crew.
BE SAFE!
We were working 4 poles down from 3 line crews today. We were doing a large hazard removal for the current power upgrade these workers were brought in to do. There was a 13.8kV Hendrix circuit, and they are adding 2 more 10' above this one.
I got in the truck to back it up a few feet, set the air brake and hit the PTO button. I looked up to view the work down the road and all I saw was an orange fireball envelope the entire street and line trucks, then thick black smoke. The explosion wasn't a loud "blast" it was a deep bass sounding explosion. 2 phases of the Hendrix circuit touched and melted to the ground while a worker was repairing weather cracks in the jacket of one of the phases. Luckily the lines were in NON re-close, and they were dead as soon as they flashed. The third phase had half of its strands broken.
The crew jumped into action INSTANTLY and had the man down faster than I could start to walk down to see what had happened. All of the crews had police details, NOT FLAGGERS!, and this man had 6 police officers on scene instantly and within 1-2 minutes, fire, EMS, and electric light company on site. Forever impressed with how fast this rescue and response happened.
By the time I walked the 1000' the injured worker was sitting on the steps on the side of the truck. His hardhat, glasses, shirt, and full body harness were all burned off of him. He was awake, talking, and could see. He had his left arm still in what was left of his fire retardant shirt, and paramedics were feverishly cutting it off. He was burned down to his facial muscles on 3/4 of his face, had no hair left, and his entire torso had burns from his pants up. I think the bucket must have ended at where his pants began? His fire retardant clothing did its job and protected him, and his crew clearly saved his life. They applied gel blankets and packs for electrical burns instantly.
I will never forget the man without a face staring across the road at me and my crew.
BE SAFE!
