Garbage Truck Fire

bigredfish

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The power lines do appear to be on the low side.
The power lines are ridiculously low. This place was built in 1970 and of the 200 homes, there’s only a few I’d live in. Ours and the one beside us have recently been heavily renovated in the past 3 years.

We moved here you may recall last year to take care of Mom, and if it wasn’t for the renovation and million $ view out back we’d be gone. But for now while we ease into retirement and figure out where we want to die, it’s cheap and usually quiet ;)
 

CCTVCam

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Lots of excitement here at the Swamp last week when the garbage truck snagged a power line...

(4K ) Go full screen for the full effect on clip #1)


I'm getting a sense of the Darwin effect here. The 1st guy in black wanders under the truck looking around with a live power line resting on top only seconds after it happened and with sparks still raining down). The crowd later joins him!!!!

Somehow, it seems the driver gets out - not a good idea when the truck body is acting as a Faraday cage and protecting you. Granted there was a fire so he needed to exit. Surely the answer was to drive (reverse if possible until the power lines pulled clear and then exit when you could see they were clear of the truck). As it was, he potentially exited a vehicle which had live bodywork and him touching the ground could have been fatal nevermind if the cable came free upon existing - so double danger of electrocution. Better to risk the residents wrath by pulling the power lines or poles over than end up as Mr Crispy.
 

TonyR

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Yeah, I was thinking when the driver stepped down from the truck: "OK, so it's a secondary,120/240VAC 3 wire split phase, not a 15Kv primary and the pavement is dry and he's not barefooted, he should be OK stepping down BUT...he doesn't know that, he'd probably do the same thing if it had been a primary and we'd have a funeral announcement in the local paper tomorrow." :rolleyes:
 

bp2008

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Yeah, I was thinking when the driver stepped down from the truck: "OK, so it's a secondary,120/240VAC 3 wire split phase, not a 15Kv primary and the pavement is dry and he's not barefooted, he should be OK stepping down BUT...he doesn't know that, he'd probably do the same thing if it had been a primary and we'd have a funeral announcement in the local paper tomorrow." :rolleyes:
I was always taught if you absolutely must exit a vehicle with a power line on it then you should hop out and completely clear the vehicle before any part of you touches the ground. Arms pulled in to prevent subconsciously holding onto the vehicle.

Like they show here:

1680027567419.png
 

TonyR

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I was always taught if you absolutely must exit a vehicle with a power line on it then you should hop out and completely clear the vehicle before any part of you touches the ground. Arms pulled in to prevent subconsciously holding onto the vehicle.

Like they show here:

View attachment 158434
I am very aware of this valuable recommendation.

You're also supposed to keep your feet close together and if you must get away from say, a burning vehicle, you shuffle your feet and NOT pick them up to step. That's the best practice, especially if one is not a high voltage lineman by trade or is not aware of what kind of line is on the vehicle. You can't go wrong by assuming the worse (high voltage primary).

I'm just saying that it appears to be a secondary (120/240VAC) and on dry pavement with dry shoes and a rubber-tired vehicle he was in little danger of electrocution when he exited under those apparent circumstances. :cool:
 

bigredfish

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I am very aware of this valuable recommendation.

You're also supposed to keep your feet close together and if you must get away from say, a burning vehicle, you shuffle your feet and NOT pick them up to step. That's the best practice, especially if one is not a high voltage lineman by trade or is not aware of what kind of line is on the vehicle. You can't go wrong by assuming the worse (high voltage primary).

I'm just saying that it appears to be a secondary (120/240VAC) and on dry pavement with dry shoes and a rubber-tired vehicle he was in little danger of electrocution when he exited under those apparent circumstances. :cool:

Yep, it was a secondary drop to a pole/meter servicing the house on the right
 
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