Something odd happened at work today...

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AllenOK

AllenOK

Executive Chef
Joined
Aug 25, 2004
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Location
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I had just arrived at work, and not five minutes later, a bright FLASH and a simultaneous BANG herralded the fact that we just took a lightning strike to the building. I found out a few minutes later, that the bolt travelled from the roof, through the building, into the basement, where it exploded out a pipe and into wall. One of our housekeeping employees saw it, and heard the resulting INDOOR thunderclap. The shockwave knocked her across that room in the basement. Although she was fortunate to not have been electrocuted, she did suffer some hearing loss in one ear. I'm not sure if it's permanent or not.

About 30 minutes later, we found out another casualty of the lightning strike; our computerized ordering system managed to get a bit of the strike, and although none of the equipment was burned out, it wasn't working. A technician managed to get it working, but an hour after he left, it went down again. Most of the night I was on "old school" ordering, reading hand-written tickets.

How was your day?
 
Sounds like a very interesting day at work. We had lightning in our area, too. But it was not that close!! Hopefully, your coworker has not suffered any permanent hearing damage.

Every year when our temporary employees start work at the ranger station, we give them a safety presentation on lightning and it is a good refresher for the permanent workforce, also. Working out in the forest with lightning strikes happening all around can be a very frightning experience.

Here is some good general information from the National Lightning Safety Institute.

http://www.lightningsafety.com/index.html

As we head towards summer and lightning storms become more frequent across the United States it is important to practice lightning safety. Be safe and have a fun summer!!


Personal Lightning Safety Tips




1. PLAN in advance your evacuation and safety measures. When you first see lightning or hear thunder, activate your emergency plan. Now is the time to go to a building or a vehicle. Lightning often precedes rain, so don't wait for the rain to begin before suspending activities. 2. IF OUTDOORS...Avoid water. Avoid the high ground. Avoid open spaces. Avoid all metal objects including electric wires, fences, machinery, motors, power tools, etc. Unsafe places include underneath canopies, small picnic or rain shelters, or near trees. Where possible, find shelter in a substantial building or in a fully enclosed metal vehicle such as a car, truck or a van with the windows completely shut. If lightning is striking nearby when you are outside, you should:


A. Crouch down. Put feet together. Place hands over ears to minimize hearing damage from thunder.


B. Avoid proximity (minimum of 15 ft.) to other people.


​
3. IF INDOORS... Avoid water. Stay away from doors and windows. Do not use the telephone. Take off head sets. Turn off, unplug, and stay away from appliances, computers, power tools, & TV sets. Lightning may strike exterior electric and phone lines, inducing shocks to inside equipment.


4. SUSPEND ACTIVITIES for 30 minutes after the last observed lightning or thunder.

5. INJURED PERSONS do not carry an electrical charge and can be handled safely. Apply First Aid procedures to a lightning victim if you are qualified to do so. Call 911 or send for help immediately.

6. KNOW YOUR EMERGENCY TELEPHONE NUMBERS.







Teach this safety slogan:

"If you can see it, flee it; if you can hear it, clear it."
​



Please reprint & distribute.
Prepared by the
National Lightning Safety Institute, Louisville, CO.
​
 
Gee that must have been scary. So glad no one was seriously injured. You can't really protect your self when it happens that fast. Florida is supposed to be the lightening capitol of the world but I've seen very little in my 30 + years here. (except for the hurricanes, saw enough of then last year to last a lifetime).
 
Very true! I've been close enough to a lightning strike that I felt the pressure wave. It felt like I got punched in the chest and my ears were ringing for a good hour and a half! Luckily, I was looking down at the time! Three years ago we had a storm with intense lightning pass over the course and it knocked out our irrigation system, which is computer controlled. It took about three weeks of digging and replacing solenoids on the irrigation heads and replaced two satellite boxes that cost us about $22,000 bucks.
 
How terrifying. When we lived in the Daytona area, lightening strikes were a normal part of life and sometimes impossible to convince visiting freinds of the dangers. We had a pool, and of course would take them to the beach. When a storm would be coming in, when you live there, you get the general idea of when it is time to get out of the water and off the beach. Often freinds would think we were being wimps. haha. Once I ordered everyone out of the pool, NOW, and it struck close by scaring the bejeesus out of everyone (all were out of the water by then, complaining about my yelling at them!). They were shocked to realize that our phones were all fried and electricity out for hours because it had hit nearby. We never got a direct hit, but lost an average of a phone and/or answering machine once a year, and have many freinds whose homes did get direct hits and lost all their electronics. Remember, if you are the tallest thing around, you're a target (and you are if you're in the water or on the beach). If you're next to the tallest thing around you're a target (as in the clicheed-but-true tall tree on a golf course or athletic field).
 
Yikes! :shock: Im darn happy that you were alright! To bad they didnt just call it a day and send folks home. I hope that woman gets her hearing back! I wonder if the building was grounded.
 
Yesterday, I went and looked at a maple tree in the corner of the parking lot, about a 100 yds from the clubhouse. It had taken a lightning strike as well, and you could see a path blown from the top all the way to the ground. There were splinters and wood fragments 100' away from the tree. Supposedly, one of the member's car was pummelled by the frags, and suffered some major denting.

I also saw a second lightning strike on the same tree, but it looked like that happened a few years ago.
 
:ohmy: I'm so glad your ok and pray that poor woman gets her hearing back. The clap or crack of thunder really gets to me personally.

This is probably a stupid question but I'm curious. I love antique shopping and I've seen lightening rods for sale. I know that these used to be put on peoples houses and barns and are still used to this day. My question is.... Why in the world would you want to attach one of these things to your house or barn. I'd think that the chances of it not hitting these things would be greater by having one of these attached then not having one at all.
Ok....on more question........so when people do have one of these is the bottom of this rod embeaded deep in the ground so the ground absorbs the electricity? Wouldn't it still have some effect on the house or barn?

Thanks all.......finally I may get an answer and it might spike my interest in picking up a few of these for conversational pieces........there are some really pretty older ones available.
 
my neighbors used to have them on there house. one time there was a thunderstorm where lightening DID hit their house. actually it hit the rod and bounced off onto the ground. there were scorch marks in the back yard. that's the only time i have ever seen that happen. so i guess it did it's job. i still don't think i'd have them on my house because i feel the rods attract the lightening.
 
A lightening rod system consists of the rod, a copper wire and a conductive grid that is buried in the ground. They do not attract lightening. The lightening strike is going to happen anyway and the lightening rod, because it is a really good conductor of heat brings the lightening "safely" to the ground. If the strike hit your house, or barn, our outbuilding, these are not good conductors of heat so the massive amount of heat from the lighting can start a fire. The rod absorbs all this heat.

That's ALL my knowledge of them - I'm sure there's more but that's basically what I remember. Where is Michael in FW when you need him????
 
Just a little extra sumthin sumthin. If you already know this I apologize for wasting a few extra grey cells. The term "bolt from the blue" is literally true. A lightning strike can happen up to ten miles away from the main thunderhead. Also, if you can hear a distant rumble of thunder during a quiet day, the storm is approx. 20 miles away. If you're listening to AM radio and can hear the crackles caused by the lightning on that frequency, the quieter crackles are about 50 miles away.
 
Very interesting DC - hopefully those gray cells that this info soaked into will stay with me for at least 2 days!
 
We took an almost direct hit a couple of years ago and got many things knocked out - the computer, the tv's, satellite dish, phones, the ac, even the garage door opener. Our power was out for over 24 hours (on Labor Day weekend) so with no air, no fans, no electric at all, we stayed in the pool almost all day (the weather was clear after that). We live in the country and have a well so we had no water except bottled water and had to use pool water to flush the toilets. Although we are part of the lightening capital area, that was the first time we have had such a hit. We had lost a few things before and had to get voice mail from the phone company because we couldn't keep an answering machine (they seem really touchy about lightening). With all the new stuff we got better surge protectors so hope that won't happen again.
 
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