Bucket truck VS 138 kV line

Phil

Phil

Carpal tunnel level member
Location
Oak Lawn, IL
What happens when a bucket truck wrestles with a 138,000 volts of raw energy?....the truck looses. This happened yesterday in my neck of the woods. This is all I know....

-The boom got into the line directly...no idea why

-The bucket operator jumped out of the bucket from about 20' up and maybe hurt his leg a little from the fall

-No one else was injured

-It rained in the morning so maybe a wet boom conducted?

I am a line clearance trimmer so word about this got around pretty fast down here in Southern IL. Several workers had just finished chipping when the truck got in the line so close calls for all involved obviously.

Stay safe my friends and stand up for yourself if you don't feel safe with conditions or your abilities. If your boss says don't worry about it just trim the tree, hand him the saw and the harness and tell him to have at it if its that important to him...Risking your life for a $25 an hour job is stupid.
 

Attachments

  • 232307-2010-06-099513.jpg.jpg.webp
    232307-2010-06-099513.jpg.jpg.webp
    154.6 KB · Views: 343
Oh---and nobody on the job site could call for help because all their cell phones were on fire inside the truck cab. they had to run up to the house. I do not work for this company and was not there but the bucket operator's brother works for the company I do work for so I got to hear all about this today.
 
Funny you should mention this. Last Friday our fire company went out on a truck fire. It turned out to be a utility bucket. The crew said that they had just got down from the aerial and pulled the truck off the road to pick up signage and poof. With these two incidents in mind... What would you do if your bucket caught on fire while you were aloft? Jump? From full working height? Sit it out and hope the fire co gets there before the boom collapses? Or do you carry a bail out kit of some sort? What is it? These are all questions I have asked myself since last Friday. What is everyone doing out there (besides praying their truck doesn't catch fire).
 

Attachments

  • 232418-Bucketfire.webp
    232418-Bucketfire.webp
    37.7 KB · Views: 180
....on a bad day with a bucket and utility service... the fact that no one is killed or hurt is the most important part .... trucks come and go (new ones made every day).... lines can be repaired or replaced quite easily .... Going home that night in one piece ... priceless !
 
I am interested in any answers to the question, I am looking to put together bail out kits for our two trucks (or atleast for myself). Does anyone have something that they use? Ideas? I have had to bail from one the trucks, and had to wait for someone to toss me a throw line, to pull a line and climbing saddle up. I dont think I want to wait for all that if the truck is on fire. Any suggestions.
 
... other than home made ... there are some emergency bailout kits available ....my ground worker found one made by Petzl .... I have had the master catalog for years and never seen it .... he started a thread over at the TreeHouse about it .... it seems they will not sell it without a training course .....I think it's called the EXO or something like that ... ( the thread is is in the climbers section) ....he is in school for fire fighting technologies , which it seemed to be designed for ... also SWAT and military use .... I bet it would cross over nicely to emergency bucket evac .....
 
.... also about ten years ago over near Albany , NY .... a line clearance trimmer's bucket started to bleed off and rest on serious voltage wires .... thing began to get HOT ... the dude bailed (free fall) .... sixty-five feet ! .... had Bi-lateral ankle fractures ... Quit the bussiness that day ..... I still think he was lucky ....
 
[ QUOTE ]
... my ground worker found one made by Petzl .... I have had the master catalog for years and never seen it .... he started a thread over at the TreeHouse about it .... it seems they will not sell it without a training course .....I think it's called the EXO or something like that ... ( the thread is is in the climbers section)

[/ QUOTE ]

I have seen the EXO in firefighting magazines. It is basically a Petzl Greon (sp)(from what it looks in pictures) with a small diameter cord (bailout I believe). It is true they will not sell it unless you go through their training
frown.gif
. There are a couple nice videos on youtube of FFs jumping out windows.
blush.gif
Its kinda cool.
Tom: I have not seen that particular Buckingham kit. I have seen the ladder one where if you fall out you pull it and climb back up the ladder and into the bucket. I do like it straps right to the boom (means you cant forget it). I wonder how well it stays in place when you are strait up. If it slides down the boom? Thanks
 
There are store-bought kits on the market.

The descenders used in a bail out kit is critical. The ones that are purpose-built are adjusted so that the climber only has to squeeze the lever and they descend at a safe rate. They will also lock off if the climber releases the handle.

If you're going to put a kit together be careful to have all of the pieces be complementary. The wrong piece could lead to an accident on top of an accident.
 
[ QUOTE ]
There are store-bought kits on the market.

The descenders used in a bail out kit is critical. The ones that are purpose-built are adjusted so that the climber only has to squeeze the lever and they descend at a safe rate. They will also lock off if the climber releases the handle.

If you're going to put a kit together be careful to have all of the pieces be complementary. The wrong piece could lead to an accident on top of an accident.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree completly. I am trying to come up with something that I can bring to my boss and say "here this is what we need." Would rather the store-bought kit. But for right now anything is better than jumping or worse.
 
hi ranger 55 vs primarys in holmdel nj yesterday.hi voltage wins..burned the truck to the ground.operator jumped to the tree and slid his way down without injury..i heard about this from the owner of the tree service today..no news or media just lots of firetrucks
 
I usually wear my regular tree climbing saddle with a short tether girthed to the big metal eye on the boom, use a rated biner to clip to the saddle's side-D.. also keep a 45' piece of hi-v loose in the bottom of the bucket.. at full height it is just reachable from the ground.. its a multi-purpose accesory line.. could use that to bail with a munter on the biner.. might be a bit awkward climbing out of the bucket, but I'd get it done in a hurry if needed..
 
I tie into the saftey on the boom with my normal 120ft. climbing line and VT hitch. If I have to bail I'm out of there! I quite often climb out of the bucket anyway to finish up the back side of a tree that is hard to reach with the bucket.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I tie into the saftey on the boom with my normal 120ft. climbing line and VT hitch. If I have to bail I'm out of there! I quite often climb out of the bucket anyway to finish up the back side of a tree that is hard to reach with the bucket.

[/ QUOTE ]

I like your style... I am just getting back into bucket work, and I could have used this today for a few cuts... Rope bag and ergovation... Done!
 
+1 what Fordman said - you aren't supposed to be working from the bucket in a climbing saddle. If I am going up to get out of the bucket immediately, I make an exception to the rule there, but otherwise, you need a deceleration lanyard that is standard on full-body harnesses.

Wearing a saddle sort of defeats the purpose of slowing you down if you fall out of the bucket, since you will be jerked to a stop, a lot more violently if you are using a short rope.

That all being said, I don't really have a backup plan if the bucket caught fire. I do have one of these, though:

http://tinyurl.com/3ahlab4

it is called a "last chance belt" from Rock and Rescue company, a company you will love if you haven't seen their catalog yet. The belt has a tie-in point built in, which I wear on my shorts (yes i climb in shorts, with chaps when there's a saw involved) all day long. That way, in the bucket or wherever, I have a tie-in point without a harness.

Haven't tried it yet, bet it's no ergovation to climb off of, but in a pinch, I guess I just need to have a bag of black widow or something to loop around the nearby tree I am working on, tie in, and drop out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Back
Top Bottom