It was stupid of the fire fighters to be standing so close to that fence. An electrical ark (not spark) could have jumped the gap and zapped the firemen. That was extremely dangerous and risky. They got lucky.
This particular electric fence draws many tens of kilowatts of power, and would be prohibitively costly to run. It is probably also too deadly. A normal electric fence normally has an open circuit to ground and will only supply a few mA.
If he was on the swing set, he would likely be injured by difference in potential between points, flying slag, or radiation from the arc. Worst case, the power line falls right on top of him.
I work storm response for an electric utility. Those chain link fences are so dangerous when lines are down. We usually tape off an entire block. You never know what’s hot from that downed wire. The fence could be energized several houses down since they’re usually all connected.
I had a Bandito take one down at Ft Hood after I had warned not to get into it ( 12Yard Dump ) • Of course the fire response lead was not real happy that I had taken it off of the chain link fence with my bare hands but the drop ( what I think working electricians call the demand side of the pole mounted x-former ) is on 240 and I have handled that with dry hands enough times that I had greater worries of someone whom does not know causing additional difficulties-though I do concur *strongly* with what you say; Special case ¼-million hours and am aware of what the 9.3 Kv side does ~ also aware of what the demand side does it it starts to pull amperage + much experience with this ~ what gets me is the 9.3 Kv side throwing plasma balls several feet > That can discharge taking off a human limb
Brilliant footage, it shows clearly the step potential when the power hits the swing set and the wire-mesh fence. The Fire service did the correct thing, stay clear and tape off the area, including the houses nearby, until the lines have been de-energized tested and earthed by the POCO before addressing the actual fire. What voltage was involved here ? 14.4 kV
well i think its less then 14.4 higher voltages tend to kick the feeder alot easier then smaller voltages. the station or reclosure just saw this as load.
With that amount of voltage and current flowing into the ground it can easily flow through the ground up ones leg and down another or any other path it can find of least resistance very lucky no one was killed when the fence was charged.
I would not bet my life on the insulation on a common pair of shoes ,,,there can be huge electrical potential of over a thousand volts as it travels across the ground trying to dissipate that much current
I absolutely love electricity. I mean it's terrifying - sure, but it's also memorizing and awe inspiring. Still don't think I would of felt too comfy being that close though.
hes talking about the arc flash from the high voltage, when the fence starting smoking it was being electrofied through an arc from the swingset. and from the fence it could arc into a human then through the ground if they stand within 3 feet.
@@guyfirey695 I dont understand why this stuff does not get placed underground? These cables everywhere are just super ugly and break down way too often. Just burry that stuff and it will be safe, even from storms. Here in Germany its common to have them underground. overhead lines are really rare.
@@guyfirey695 they normally get placed when the street is build, it's not that much more expensive. Repair is also not much of a problem, there are a lot of access points, you just pull the old cable out and put a new one in, you not even have to break the surface for it. They are just empty pipes in which the cables run
@@hipsu555 The downside of underground is they need to dig up the whole street or in this case people's yards, any time they need to do maintenance. Frost heave does cause lines to move around a bit and you can still get faults over the years.
Holy crap dude that is crazy. This is why it's good to go to every call because you never know with that "downed wire" call might turn into. Great video man
This is really interesting that so many things could be live and still not conduct enough current to earth to blow a fuse, and that arcs could still form with the seemingly better path to ground on the fence. Or maybe the fence wasn't live the whole time, the wire may have come down slightly more and contacted it halfway through. Just weird that all that could come up to 13kv when they've got to be in the ground at least a foot.
I was thinking the same thing. It's not that it's loud enough to scare you, and the sound itself isn't harsh or startling, but it makes me uneasy as hell.
60 cycles. That is what you are hearing. The extreme current in the fence and swingset is rising and falling and changing direction 120 times a second - that is what you are hearing. And yes, it IS creepy. I've working in electronics for 35 years and there is something about that sound.
It is, and that's good in my mind. Kind of like a rattlesnake's tail that warns you of danger...the fence going hot was what really freaked me out, I never even thought of that being electrified and I may have been leaning on it shooting the breeze with the Firefighters! Zzzzap!
+Dave ThirtyTwoForty that's not how it works, at all. it takes all paths, with the current of each path being relative to that paths resistance. the people in this video were also being careless standing that close, when that fence became electrified there was probably close to 10kv of potential in the dirt they were standing on. Google step potential - downed "grounded" powerlines kill people with rubber boots on everyday due to the voltage gradient it created in the ground
Normal wear and tear. As more and more electricity goes through it,the lines will begin to droop, and in extreme cases, the outer plastic/ rubber casing can melt, leaving an easy path to ground, especially when it's near something conductable. Then, if it proceeds to arc, the actual metal wire itself will heat up and eventually break, and in this case there was an easy path to ground to begin with b/c of the swing set. Kudos to whomever thought it would be smart to put a METAL swing set under some electrical lines.
@@lukepotosky7710 I am even surprised the power lines running just through somebody's garden. Underground cables or the power lines near the road would've been better imho.
I have stood in an insulated bucket truck with full rubber gloves and sleeves and still pulled an arc off the conductor with a screwdriver....just saying, this dude is lucky that "spark failed to arc"
Take a close look at the video and you'll see 2 lines still in the air. Notice there are splices holding those lines together. Good chance the splice holding that one line that's now on the swing set let go. There are millions of these types of splices all over the world and many of them are letting go every day. If you see splices on power lines in your neighborhood, call your power company and ask them to install a ClampStar over it to protect it.
Emergency responders are always on standby to deploy near instantly, whereas the power company's linesmen are all on the job elsewhere and need to get a call from dispatch, ~safely~ wrap up whatever job they're doing in another part of town, drive over, assess the situation and then finally kill the power to the block. It's not for being slothful or careless.
Parpyduck - Yeah, but then from the looks of this those responders just stand around and don't do anything and waste taxpayer money. The power company should be able to shut down part of the grid without being physically present.
+Chirp Chirp waste taxpayer money? Wow, do you even think before you say things? What would you like them to do? Try to disconnect that section of the power grid and end up dead. If they end up dead, then you (the taxpayer) will have to foot the bill for much more than just these first responders 'standing around wasting your money'. Please, tell me, Mr. Expert, what should these first responders do in this situation to satisfy you and make sure your tax dollars are put to full use in such a situation.
Does anyone know the Voltage on this power line? Was it a Single Phase Line by itself? Or was it 1 Phase of a 3-phase distribution line? I can’t tell from the video. Was it a broken line with direct contact to the swing-set? It doesn’t appear so since it was intermittent. Or was it arcing to the swing-set for another reason? Tress? Branches? Bushes? Etc? Definitely impressive current and voltage passed through that chain link fence! Thanks for any info you can provide.
wait... WHAT? hv aerial power lines in residential areas... over ppls houses :O dafuck? I tought it's a world wide thing that hv lines are run underground or poles, away from sidewalks on the side of the road in residential areas or public places. Children play right there, under the power line. also i see lots of tree branches verry close to the lines. They need to do some maintainance on them lines lol. Relocation is the best choice but i bet it's considered too expensive.
stalkersas You obviously know nothing about linework so let me give you some information so you're not talking out of your ass 1. Overhead lines are common in residential areas but are never ran directly over houses, only to them or between them through easements 2. Not all lines are ran underground since its more expensive, harder and more dangerous to troubleshoot and takes longer to restore. 3. Most of the time they are ran along with roads and sidewalks so they are easier for us to get to And 4. Relocation is very expensive. The only thing you said that was correct is trimming does need to be done.
jaxbeach09 U seem like a smartass that reads between the lines and loves to bash ppl. Yes, I must admit, i live on the other side of the world and do not know much about the us laws on power lines. I always tought those were hv cables not bare wires, runing on poles between the sidewalk and road. Here inside urban areas there are no bare wire lines (those are run only outside of towns), only cables (live core, null wrap, ground wrap). The only exception is industrial areas at the perifery. If u go on a road and u go hrough villages, u can see hv lines going underground at the entrance and back up when u exit. Building under powerlines is ilegal, building above them is the same most of the time, (unless u can pay to move the cable) Correct m if i am wrong, but what i see there is a bare wire aerial line runing through the back yards... through trees... above childeren;s playgrounds. If u think i know nothing about linework because i think that setup there is wrong, then you base your conclusions too much on asumptions and take all the oportunitys u can to bash ppl and point down at them from the top of that pole. But cause i am bored right now i have nothing better to do atm, i will play your game: "You obviously know nothing about linework so let me give you some information so you're not talking out of your ass": Underground power lines are the most realiable, verry well defended against the elements and natural disasters, the the safest in public areas. If implemented properly then the only thing that is expensive about them is construction. But after that it's only cheapear. Low maintainance, less repairs, less power drops, No life threatning situations can appear for the public, and durning natural disasters they are as safe as they can be. If a natural disasters severely damages tan underground power line, then the power line damage is the least of your worries, cause the town might have sliped away with the landslide, is turned to ruble by a devastating earthquake or washed away by a tsunami. The only party that is against underground lines usualy then to be power production and distribution companies, because it takes a long time to be on par investment-wise with above ground lines. But i agree, companies always care about the money above all. I live in a shitty town in Romania (middle of nowhere for u) here we have power drops mainly during summer and winter, they happen like 1 every 1-2 months and last 5-30sec, las time a power drop lasted more then that was 6 years ago, and lasted a few hours, and that's because some aerial line out of town fell after severe ice buildup (the irony, isn;t it?) And those small pwoer drops are not the fault of the lines, it's the loval transformer, a bit undersized and 40 something years old. Now please tell me, how often and for how long u have power drops in there? i'm curious, how often are ppl put in danger by droped lines? Not to mention cascading damage (fires, damaged transformers due to shorts, closed trafic) I could go on forever why underground is better then above in public places.
***** Oh, interesting :) here hv is 11kv+, mv is 0.8k-6k (including) thow this is not from a standards/law book, just from experince with others that i worked with. On the other hand i do know that 11, 22, 33kv are refeared to intermediary by the distribution company and it's workers, hv being 110, 220 400kv and so on.
In my day.. We walked 30 miles to get to a playground like this, that was *TWICE* as smokey and with *TWICE* the voltage *AND* in a lightning storm. Weeeell we just pulled up our trousers and got to playing!!
Sparksterfu , just wait until an underground splice rots out and arcs over, frying your drop lines and phone wires. Happened to me during a big snowstorm 15 yrs ago. It's a good thing that I'm somewhat observant about the utilities... saved the power company crews hours looking for the vault buried in the snow in the neighbor's yard. Still took them 18 hrs to restore power to 3 houses.
This must be a backward banana republic where electricity is above ground in a residential area. One does not just go randomly digging unless they have mapped out where the utilities ( telephone, cable TV, gas, water, electricity) are. In fact this is a legal requirement.
yes and then you girl friend Nancy Pelosi would have another democratic temper tantrum. just like any other three and a half year old illegal alien's lives matter not Americans you tell 'em mr democrat liberal!! you set all those nasty , mean conservatives straight on that matter!!! ooops!!! what am I saying! i shouldn't be picking on the poor democrats,,, after all the things they are trying to do in America. such as abolishing the right to free speech , repealing the right to keep and bear arms, trying to get rid of the electoral college committing blatent voter fraud money laundering and high treason inciting riots and promoting communisim . hey now that's nothing to arrest endicte , or try any one for,, right mr. democrat liberal???
It's certainly a graphic example how a high voltage accident could take a life. Note how they went to the front door after that fence event, to make sure no one was stuck to the wall or an appliance.. Hearing the Arc with that much current behind it, is also a trip. Allot different then the Tesla Coils we play with.. ;-)
I hate and fear overhead powerlines. That's about 2 miles from my house. That neighborhood is 7200 volts phase to ground. My neighborhood is 2400. My house is 180 feet from the lines, garage too. Screw the power company. This stuff should be underground and wrapped in grounded conductor. With the trillions wasted on cheney/shrub/rumsfelds illegal invasion of Iraq we could be well under way to having all lines of 5 digit or less voltages underground.
You're an idiot. First off for the same old liberal whining. Second, the POWER COMPANIES own the lines, NOT the US government. And third, yeah sure we can run everything underground, we'll just triple everyone's electric bill. Typical liberal, full of hate and fear for what they don't understand. Oh, BTW, 'Bama continued the "illegal" war, and had a little hobby war in Libya while he was at it.
ffjsb With regard to the safety of those lines, he's right! It's up to the government to set and enforce better safety standards. Those lines are not fit for purpose (I mean they fell down onto a child's swing and remained live FFS.) In the UK we have proper safety standards that power distribution companies have to abide by, if they neglect to do so they will get prosecuted BIG TIME, simples. BTW, I have no opinion on the war, I'm not getting into that messy debate, there is so much BS and censorship in the media that I don't know what to believe.
Si1983h If you think I've going to believe that power lines in the UK never fail, you're full of crap. And what genius sets up a swingset under power lines anyway???
Drop the aggression buddy, you sound like a keyboard warrior, I never said never, it is very, very rare for them to come down though and unheard of for them to come down right in peoples gardens. And yep, you'd have to be a full on tard to set a swing up directly below those lines. Still, overhead HV line should no be that close to property, that's plain stupid, just a cheap way of doing things.
Si1983h If lines pass over someones "garden", it's NOT unheard off for wires to come down. How do you propose that electricity is carried to communities that need the power??? I suppose you think it can be bottled and delivered to people's doorstep. And aggression??? I think not. Just setting you straight.
1:40 wow that arcing fence !!! what a huge amount of current there ..... when I imagine that it is theoretically grounded at so many points all around the fence ..but it still arcs on whole length of the fence ....O_O ..... some onlooker , touching the fence would be in very bad trouble in that moment
I have a question for people in USA. Is this plain normal there? Here in Italy (and in Europe), these kind of things could never happen since all powerlines, from the humble 220Vac to the highest 450.000Vac are provided with circuit breakers that trip whenever a short circuit or grounding is detected. The system is automated so that whenever a circuit breaker trips, the power is cut and fed again, automatically, after 3 seconds, 30 seconds, 3 minutes and 30 minutes (unless they are told differently from emergency number or emergency crews). If after all these retries the breaker still trips, the whole line is put out of service by the system and human intervention is needed to give power again (presumably after some on-site checks and maybe circuit detour to avoid isolating all the line). What I always see in the USA is that the current can be cut only by the intervention of "someone" and that whatever the situation around the grounded or short circuit is, everything continues to burn, arch or smoke, untill a human intervenes (often many hours later) to cut power. Is there any reason for this? Isn't this just too dangerous not to take precautions for the future? Should there have been children on that metal swing, wouldn't they have continued to fry for hours?
NOPE! America's full of stupid cheap ass anti-tax paying, anti-regulation thinking types because they are scared they will get screwed somehow. The labor would dig into profits of the company more than the possible liability or resulting suit. Power company doesn't give a shit if someone MIGHT die, but care more about the labor costs for putting this underground.. This is why one certain political party of citizens support regulation, otherwise it doesn't get done.
The ground resistance was too high to allow enough fault current to flow. It will arc, give a nice light show, and kill anyone who touches it. But it won’t trip the breaker. A phase to phase or phase to neutral short will trip it. Much higher fault current.
Probably the best thing that could have happened to that swing set ! In that the kids playing under the power lines are no longer being exposed directly to the EMF's surrounding the power lines ! 😊👍
And now the hottest new backyard swing set for the coolest kids! It's so hot it smokes!!! Get your 'Lectric Lightnin' swing set today! (48,000 volt batteries not included)...
We prefer to use 1800's technology here. Centralized control rooms with emergency stop buttons, automatic surge detection, overheating detection, auto-shutoffs...naw. We prefer to have the public have to call us, and manually send out crews that takes a few hours to get anywhere. First Responders - they can wait! Be helpless and watch as things burn, and fires grow larger - they have to wait for power shutoff crews to physically arrive. Why do something like create shut-off handles any-ol-person can pull in an emergency? Naw. 1800's tech of stringing up lines on poles, and dangling wires through the air so tress can fall on them - is best. 1800's tech was good enough then, it's good enough now.
