A little PSA about a deadly danger

[gwyn]

A few weeks ago, I read this horrible, painful story about a woman who had watched her dog being electrocuted from stray voltage that leaked from a nearby power pole as they were walking. As upset as this story has made me, I feel compelled to pass it along to everyone I know -- I had never heard of this problem, and it horrifies me to find out that it has happened in many cities, and killed pets, kids, and adults alike. And that our utility companies have in many cases let this happen by hiring crappy subcontractors or not properly inspecting work.

If you walk anywhere, any time (even though some of these have happened in wet climates and after snow, when salt de-icing makes the current conduct more intensely), you should know about this. I can tell you that when I get a dog, I will be absolutely certain never to get near a metal plate. I don't know if there are any in my immediate area that could endanger Olive the wandering kitty, but I'm certainly going to find out.

Seattle City Light held a meeting last night about this, especially after one woman in my area told them about a light where her dog was acting weird, and it turned out to have exposed wiring. They are promising to inspect all 20,000 lights before May 1 -- but this is small comfort to someone who had to watch her beloved pet being killed. I have no idea what it will mean for places outside the city, and whether other cities will be dealing with this problem. It's more common in the east, unsurprisingly, with their worse weather and less car-reliant populations.

I think this is worth passing along, especially if you know of anyone with pets or little kids.

Comments

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

I am not entirely surprised. Around my place, we have a lot of issues with fires started in untrimmed or poorly trimmed trees tangling in power lines here, and it is particularly dangerous after windstorms. In many cases people have been calling to report a problem for years, but nothing can be done. The power company is the only one who can legally handle such trees, and they aren't training or paying enough labor to do the entire amount of the job in any given year, there's a huge well-known backlog. (Ask your local fire services...) The company's tree crews get to it as they have the assigned personnel to do so. Some of those wildfires have been caused by these tangles.
In my own neighborhood we've had two fires of that sort, and another from failure of a PCB-containing box up on a pole.
So I'm not at all surprised to learn there might also be situations where ground faults can happen, not even talking about about bad weather conditions (like salted ice) contributing to the issue.
This is another example of what is meant when people say that we haven't been investing in infrastructure maintenance.

[mackiemesser.livejournal.com]

That's simply awful. I feel ridiculously lucky that I live in an areas that doesn't have those plates.

[nwhepcat.livejournal.com]

Yike! That's useful to know!

I am very leery of metal plates in snowy weather anyhow, because I noticed in NYC that manhole covers were always more slippery than anything around them. So I pretty much walk around -- but I'll keep away in rain and clear weather too.

[queenofattolia.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting these links. The story about that poor dog was heartbreaking. I live in a hills/canyon area in LA, and people walk their dogs constantly around here. I never knew this danger existed. I've tweeted about it - I hope others do, too.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

I feel really fortunate that most of my nabe is wooden poles, but there's a part of my walk on the main drag where it's all metal poles. Now I"m suspicious of everything.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

I know, right? I was horrified and I can't stop thinking of what that poor dog went through (and many more, judging by the posts on her blog). I'm lucky that most of my nabe is wooden poles, but up on the main drag, when I walk to the store, it's metal poles, and I'm going to have pay a lot more attention.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Isn't it horrible? I just had no idea. NOw everytime it snows here I'm going to have to try to remember where there are any potential problems. I've always hated walking over any kind of metal plate or cover, and I'm going to be even more fearful now. Especially if I get a puppersons!

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Yay because I think the more people who know about this, the better. It's just horrible and I hope that if even one pet or kid is safer because of it, we've done our job.

[mackiemesser.livejournal.com]

I have a mix of metal and wooden (the wood dries out an rots, or gets termites, so the wood gets replaced with metal), but they're all set in dirt or concrete. With all the caliche in the ground here, no one digs any more than they absolutely have to!