Constable
04-05-2004, 02:05 AM
This was not my day...
I work from 1pm to 11pm Friday - Monday. Today, I got to work at 1:02pm (not too bad). I could tell on my way in that it was going to storm soon. About halfway through the parking lot, The absolute LOUDEST clap of thunder I've ever heard went off. Before I could blink, a bolt of lightning struck my department's 150' radio tower and then arced to the building itself. It struck a metal hose reel on the side of our concrete police department and blew a 10" x 10" x 2" hole in the concrete wall. The reel flew about 25' into the parking lot. Several antennas from the tower splintered and were thrown with great force into the surrounding area. An extension cord that was laying on the hose reel was literally blown to pieces. All this happened with me approximately 20 yards away, standing in the middle of an open lot.
Needless to say, I almost shat myself. I was nearly knocked over by the hit. I did not have time to react, but just ran like a gazelle!! I actually hid behind my MM in hopes that the lightning would not "strike twice".
When I enterd the building, I found that it completely fried our phone systems, 9-1-1 systems, all hardware used for our cellular computer network, and a bunch or televisions that were in use at the time. MAJOR DAMAGE. An electrical fire erupted in our main computer room. It was bad. We had to use our county radio frequency to communicate. Our repeaters were toast. Then our entire radio system went down and we needed to communicate with cell phones for the rest of the night! Not Safe!
After I finally got on the road and situated, I was sent to my first call of the night: car vs pole with wires down. GREAT.
It was pouring rain, live wires in the roadway, drunk kid behind the wheel, Mitsubishi Eclipse wrapped around a pole that was snapped at the base. I was doing everything I could to provide correct medical care to him while ensuring our safety until fire personnel could arrive. All the sudden, the transformer on the pole decides to spew flaming matter all over the place.
Another LOUD buzzing and cracking sound went off. I glanced up and the wires began to burn from the transformer to the next pole on either side. For those of you who don't know what that's like: The wires let off an ungodly sound and appear very similar to an arc welder when they burn. I grabbed the injured 19yo and literally threw him from the car. I then grabbed hold of his shirt and just started running while dragging him through the mud. I've never run so hard in my life... I honestly thought I was going to die underneath that pole.
So there it is... I lived through the shift... all that matters. I'm just glad I get to fall asleep in my bed tonight.
I work from 1pm to 11pm Friday - Monday. Today, I got to work at 1:02pm (not too bad). I could tell on my way in that it was going to storm soon. About halfway through the parking lot, The absolute LOUDEST clap of thunder I've ever heard went off. Before I could blink, a bolt of lightning struck my department's 150' radio tower and then arced to the building itself. It struck a metal hose reel on the side of our concrete police department and blew a 10" x 10" x 2" hole in the concrete wall. The reel flew about 25' into the parking lot. Several antennas from the tower splintered and were thrown with great force into the surrounding area. An extension cord that was laying on the hose reel was literally blown to pieces. All this happened with me approximately 20 yards away, standing in the middle of an open lot.
Needless to say, I almost shat myself. I was nearly knocked over by the hit. I did not have time to react, but just ran like a gazelle!! I actually hid behind my MM in hopes that the lightning would not "strike twice".
When I enterd the building, I found that it completely fried our phone systems, 9-1-1 systems, all hardware used for our cellular computer network, and a bunch or televisions that were in use at the time. MAJOR DAMAGE. An electrical fire erupted in our main computer room. It was bad. We had to use our county radio frequency to communicate. Our repeaters were toast. Then our entire radio system went down and we needed to communicate with cell phones for the rest of the night! Not Safe!
After I finally got on the road and situated, I was sent to my first call of the night: car vs pole with wires down. GREAT.
It was pouring rain, live wires in the roadway, drunk kid behind the wheel, Mitsubishi Eclipse wrapped around a pole that was snapped at the base. I was doing everything I could to provide correct medical care to him while ensuring our safety until fire personnel could arrive. All the sudden, the transformer on the pole decides to spew flaming matter all over the place.
Another LOUD buzzing and cracking sound went off. I glanced up and the wires began to burn from the transformer to the next pole on either side. For those of you who don't know what that's like: The wires let off an ungodly sound and appear very similar to an arc welder when they burn. I grabbed the injured 19yo and literally threw him from the car. I then grabbed hold of his shirt and just started running while dragging him through the mud. I've never run so hard in my life... I honestly thought I was going to die underneath that pole.
So there it is... I lived through the shift... all that matters. I'm just glad I get to fall asleep in my bed tonight.