Sad, but I'm just not understanding how this happened.

[N2CHX]

http://www.wgrz.com/news/article/218560/37/Kids-Injured-at-Lancaster-High-School

Four people injured when the goal posts they were moving came into contact with 115 kV power lines. Two of them were teenagers. The school superintendent said the goal posts hadn't been moved since 1999. Tragic, but how could they not see that they were about to hit those lines? This happened at the High School my son attends, just down the road from us. My kids know one of the boys who was airlifted from the accident. I just hope they all make it.

[suddenseer]

OMG! I hope all of the injured recover. I hope the authorities figure out why it happened, and take immediate corrective action. This just isn't right.

[N8YX]

Most people don't understand exactly how much voltage flows in overhead lines. The assumption is made that it's all 110 or 220v...and what's the worst thing which could happen with those potentials?

Sad that it happened and fortunate no one died. 115KV is absolutely nothing to screw with.

[NM5TF]

my 1st thot was ....why were teenagers, students I guess, doing the job that school maintenance people
should have been doing....and why didn't they have a spotter to watch out for things like OH power lines

luckily no one has died.....yet...........

[NA4BH]

Holy crap, I hope all will be OK.

[kb2vxa]

I don't get it, the lines are at the opposite (right) end of the track next to the football field so WTF were portable goal posts doing way over there??? There's so much I just don't understand considering the layout of the school property. BTW the news video was as expected shot from the parking lot near the grassy field on the track side of the lines using a telephoto lens, the crew kept back from the scene. Such a lens distorts depth of field, there's a large grassy field beyond the lines, the housing development looks much closer than it really is.

"This happened at the High School my son attends, just down the road from us."
Kel, 'twould be nice to ask him what's what here and get back to us, the article doesn't match what Google's eye in the sky sees.

[PA5COR]

One reason i'm glad we have all electricity lines underground here except the 500 KV lines feeding the substations...
I hope the kids all get better soon.

[N2CHX]

I don't get it, the lines are at the opposite (right) end of the track next to the football field so WTF were portable goal posts doing way over there??? There's so much I just don't understand considering the layout of the school property. BTW the news video was as expected shot from the parking lot near the grassy field on the track side of the lines using a telephoto lens, the crew kept back from the scene. Such a lens distorts depth of field, there's a large grassy field beyond the lines, the housing development looks much closer than it really is.

"This happened at the High School my son attends, just down the road from us."
Kel, 'twould be nice to ask him what's what here and get back to us, the article doesn't match what Google's eye in the sky sees.

I'm pretty familiar with that field, as my youngest plays lacrosse there all the time. The lines run right along the road behind the fieldhouse on the east side of the football field, which is just south of the track. Apparently they were moving them out of the way? It's still not clear as to what exactly they were trying to accomplish.

[KB3LAZ]

One reason i'm glad we have all electricity lines underground here except the 500 KV lines feeding the substations...
I hope the kids all get better soon.

I wish that were the case here. In the city they are rather high and out of the way but in towns (around the villas) they are really low. 10' give or take.

I too hope all of the kids get well soon.

[NQ6U]

If you go to Google Maps, switch to "satellite" view and zoom way in, you can clearly see the portable goal posts in the northwest northeast corner of the large grass field across the road from the east end of the track. That means the kids had already moved them quite a ways before they encountered the power lines.

[KG4CGC]

I hope this is a lesson learned, albeit the hard way, and that this can be prevented in the future.

[suddenseer]

Follow up: It is amazing the 4 young men are alive. They took hits over 20 KV. The burn marks on the grass show the grounding that might have saved their lives. Very tragic.

http://www.wgrz.com/news/article/218560/37/Three-Teens-One-Adult-Injured-at-Lancaster-High-School

[N2CHX]

Follow up: It is amazing the 4 young men are alive. They took hits over 20 KV. The burn marks on the grass show the grounding that might have saved their lives. Very tragic.

http://www.wgrz.com/news/article/218560/37/Three-Teens-One-Adult-Injured-at-Lancaster-High-School

From what I understand those are 115 kV lines. The school's automated call system just called me again a few minutes ago. Tomorrow will be day 2 of no student or athletic activities at the school while they continue to investigate.

[KG4CGC]

Not to sound the smart ass. Not at all, but, I guess nobody looked ... up.

[N2CHX]

Not to sound the smart ass. Not at all, but, I guess nobody looked ... up.

Oh, I said worse yesterday. Dan and I were talking about it and I was just like how the eff did they not see the power lines, with something along the lines of the guy in charge obviously getting hit in the head one too many times. Horrible thing to say, but yeah I said it because I thought it. I obviously have no filter.

[NA4BH]

Not wanting to sound too cold myself, but they probably did what Coach said to do without thinking. Or looking.

[n2ize]

Oh, I said worse yesterday. Dan and I were talking about it and I was just like how the eff did they not see the power lines, with something along the lines of the guy in charge obviously getting hit in the head one too many times. Horrible thing to say, but yeah I said it because I thought it. I obviously have no filter.

The question I have is how tall were those goal posts and/or how low were those lines ? Usually lines at that potential are strung sufficiently high such that they are unlikely to flash over like that. How did the goal post manage to get close enough to cause this to happen ? At that potential I am surprised they weren't vapourized.

[kb2vxa]

"From what I understand those are 115 kV lines."
I'm no expert but from my understanding o9f what linemen have told me 115KV lines would be on steel towers. These on wooden poles are 13KV feeders like those that feed the substation up the street, the output being 4800V phase to phase, 2400V phase to ground 600A primaries. Those feed pole pigs with outputs anywhere from 115V single phase to 480V three phase depending on how the secondaries are connected.

"If you go to Google Maps, switch to "satellite" view and zoom way in, you can clearly see" these wooden poles each with three cross arms supporting a total of six wires. They are parallel paired to increase the current carrying capacity of a three phase feeder. This has become common practice since copper priced itself out of the power company and aluminium clad steel was substituted, conductor diameter greatly increased too as these metals lack the high conductivity of copper.

"...you can clearly see the portable goal posts in the northwest northeast corner of the large grass field across the road from the east end of the track." where they were several years ago. "That means the kids had already moved them quite a ways (over the years) before they encountered the power lines" several years later. Google Satellite View isn't real time silly boy. <giggle> Catching a glimpse of a closeup view at the beginning of the broadcast video those uprights are ridiculously high, I've never seen anything like it. No wonder they contacted the power lines! They're not only clumsy but heavy too, those burns on the grass indicate they were in contact with the ground as the kids struggled with them, being practically grounded most of the current went directly to earth and saved the kids from Charcoal City. Yeah, charcoal is what victims of such high voltage look like, I have the pictures to prove it and surely you don't want to see them here.

Oh Kel, you have your directions a bit mixed up. The football field is just west (to the left) of the track and the plays run north and south, the goal posts BTW are permanently sunk in the ground as is normal for a football field. Lucky kids, that high school has such a large property devoted to several athletic fields, baseball diamonds, tennis courts (lighted like the football field).....sigh.

[NQ6U]

"...you can clearly see the portable goal posts in the northwest northeast corner of the large grass field across the road from the east end of the track." where they were several years ago. "That means the kids had already moved them quite a ways (over the years) before they encountered the power lines" several years later. Google Satellite View isn't real time silly boy. <giggle>.

Yeah, I know, but if you'd actually read the article you would have noticed that the principal of the school mentioned that the goalposts had not been moved "since 1999."

[N2CHX]

Oh Kel, you have your directions a bit mixed up. The football field is just west (to the left) of the track and the plays run north and south, the goal posts BTW are permanently sunk in the ground as is normal for a football field. Lucky kids, that high school has such a large property devoted to several athletic fields, baseball diamonds, tennis courts (lighted like the football field).....sigh.

No, I know what direction is what. The field they were on wasn't the normal football field, it was one of the practice fields. The regular football field isn't anywhere near those lines.

EDIT: I see where I made the mistake earlier in describing it. Yeah, Lancaster has a bunch of practice fields and one of those is what I meant.

[KK4AMI]

Three Cheers, that no one died from that accident. I hope the sudden use of electroshock therapy makes those four much smarter in the future. I use to laugh about how much our Radio handbook emphasized not putting antennas up near power lines. Overkill I thought for something so obvious, but now I think maybe not enough emphasis.

[n2ize]

From what I understand those are 115 kV lines. The school's automated call system just called me again a few minutes ago. Tomorrow will be day 2 of no student or athletic activities at the school while they continue to investigate.

If those were 115KV lines those kids would be gone.

[kb2vxa]

"Yeah, I know, but if you'd actually read the article you would have noticed that the principal of the school mentioned that the goalposts had not been moved "since 1999."

Oh dear, I hate to argue with the Pope BUT "The district superintendent, Mike Vallely, told reporters..." and the principal (Skinner?) was not mentioned. It gets worse right about here:
"Vallely said he does not know who was using the field or why on Monday but that the district is going to investigate. ... That's one of the interesting parts of this. Who those people are and what their affilitation on the field would be at that time," Vallely said."
Oh mister Stupidintendent, try asking the cops!
"According to Lancaster Police, the goal posts had apparently been used for a recent weekend football kicking camp run by the Hammer Kicking Academy."

HAMMER KICKING??? Anyway, the po po must have been talking with the principal, he/she usually knows pretty much everything going on at the school. On the other hand the Superintendent of Schools (if he's anything like the one I grew up with) is generally clueless being spread thinly over the entire district. You know; too many irons in the fire and none get hot.

Oh, since the question of goal post height vs. power line height came up after my explanation I regurgitate. Pardon the poor image quality, the source file leaves much to be desired. Look at the height of that thing, the truck provides good perspective. Had it been laid over not only would it have been easy to carry but would have passed under the power lines with clearance to spare. In light of such a tragedy I hate to criticize but in all honesty there's more stupidity than carelessness going around the event, I'm no Einstein but one look at that clumsy thing and I'd have laid it over rather than struggle with it... I wouldn't put an antenna up in a lightning storm either.

[n2ize]

Although the picturte provides some info, considering perspective and distance making the goal posts look taller with respect to the wires I could see where there should have been an issue of serious concern. Also, did any part of the goal poles actually physically touch the wires or, did they merely come close enough to create sufficient potential such that the energy arced over to ground ? Most people don't understand electricity and in particular high voltage. I co8uld envision the assumption that "as long as we don't physically touch the wires we are safe.". Or even more likely, little or no attention was paid to the overhead wires at all. Most people rarely think about or consider such things.

In short (no pun intended) it is probably surprising that these types of things don't happen more often. Most people don't understand the principles of high voltage and potential risks.

[kb2vxa]

Not so much the distance but the perspective. I couldn't capture a frame of video so look for yourself, the first brief scene shows several men standing under the goalpost with about a foot or so between their heads and the horizontal bar. Now with that being about 7 feet I'd say the uprights are about 20 feet tall, accounting for sag between poles the bottom wires are low enough to be contacted. Pun or no pun this sort of thing happens often enough for antennas and metallic masts, ladders, towers, etc. to carry warning labels.

[N2CHX]

I had a doctor appointment this morning before work and ended up riding by the fields on my way to work. I thought about stopping and taking a few pics but there are still crews of some sort in the vicinity.