Saw something wicked this afternoon (NF)

[Joey]

I ended up having the day off today, so mom and I decided to go shopping at Costco. We were almost there and at a building that is being newly erected at the corner near Elgin Mills Rd. and Leslie Street, there was a guy in a manlift a few stories high and we saw a huge blue flash and fire, then another huge blue flash and fire and the manlift was on fire. The guy was freaking out and then all of the metal on the cage he was in and down the boom all started sparking and arcing and making zapping noises. The street lights went out at this point so I waited my turn to go left and then pulled into the parking lot and called 911. Before the fire trucks got there, some other workers raced to get the guy down on another manlift, while another set of guys in another manlift came in from the other side. Meanwhile the first manlift is still on fire and the guy is screaming.

 

Finally the first saving manlift got there and rose up and the guy in the basket it trying to get out and they're yelling at him to take the fire extinguisher they just brought up with them and put the flames out. He did that for about 2 seconds and then got the heck out of the basket and lowered to safety.

 

All the stores around, including Costco, had no power and street lights for the next 10 blocks on the way home were out too.

 

I took some pics with my cell phone, so this is breaking new by Joey

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty exciting stuff, so glad he was okay. Too far to jump without breaking something or worse.

 

Joey

[skeeter]

how the heck could he not possibly see the hydro wire right beside him?

ministry of labour will have fun with him now.

[cheaptackle]

Hard to tell for sure from that camera angle, Joey, but was that manlift actually touching those high voltage lines? It looks like they could even be across the street? I think it was not contacting them simply because the guy would have fried along with anyone else touching it to rescue him.

Great reporting!

 

Michael

Edited April 5, 2010 by cheaptackle

[TJQ]

Ouch!!

[Joey]

They hydro lines are right there, and we wondered if they hit them also. We were so busy watching the fire and arcing sparks we didn't pay attention to why at that point. I was actually shaking I was so worried about him. I do think that he either hit the line or something on the ground, as the big blue fireballs came from the ground up and the tires on the manlift were melted rubber in the end.

 

Joey

[Terry]

wow

 

you just love taking pictures of the wildlife, don't you

[Victor]

They hydro lines are right there, and we wondered if they hit them also. We were so busy watching the fire and arcing sparks we didn't pay attention to why at that point. I was actually shaking I was so worried about him. I do think that he either hit the line or something on the ground, as the big blue fireballs came from the ground up and the tires on the manlift were melted rubber in the end.

 

Joey

 

The lift probably did touch the wires and it's grounded to the ground (tires) ... glad that he's fine

[irishfield]

Thank God for rubber tires !!

[F7Firecat]

sad thing is he had to get an operators card to run that thing............

[HTHM]

You should sell those pics to the Toronto star

[tnt]

There are rules called limits of approach that all operators of lift devices should have. Depending on the voltage, he should be at least 3m. from those lines. He is very lucky to be alive, I'm sure the ministry of labour will be looking into this one.

[T Fisher]

Thats one lucky guy, he should go out and buy a 649 ticket. And the best bottle of scotch money can buy.

 

PS great pictures Joey.

[bigugli]

He is very lucky.Like tnt said, working far to close to the lines. Will probably be out of a job after this.

[lew]

He's a lucky man Joey, thank God he got out safely.

[Roy]

Great reporting Joey.....I have a feeling that the dude with the white hat on the ground is in a little trouble too. Glad no one got hurt.

[Michael_Brown]

Thanks for the info.

Unfortunately noting started or ended safely with this accident.

 

Mike

[MooseMerch]

there were some nasty high winds through out the GTA yesterday

[tnt]

Roy Ithink you are right as well. The company and the emplyees can all be charged. I worked for Wesbel when the two lineman were killed roping and rodding ducts for telephone cables. It was a Bell owned confined space(manhole) and it was one of their jobs. Bell ended up with $250 000 because it was their plant even though it was not in their control. Not sure what the Wesbell fine will be.

[fishing n autograph]

I ended up having the day off today, so mom and I decided to go shopping at Costco. We were almost there and at a building that is being newly erected at the corner near Elgin Mills Rd. and Leslie Street, there was a guy in a manlift a few stories high and we saw a huge blue flash and fire, then another huge blue flash and fire and the manlift was on fire. The guy was freaking out and then all of the metal on the cage he was in and down the boom all started sparking and arcing and making zapping noises. The street lights went out at this point so I waited my turn to go left and then pulled into the parking lot and called 911. Before the fire trucks got there, some other workers raced to get the guy down on another manlift, while another set of guys in another manlift came in from the other side. Meanwhile the first manlift is still on fire and the guy is screaming.

 

Finally the first saving manlift got there and rose up and the guy in the basket it trying to get out and they're yelling at him to take the fire extinguisher they just brought up with them and put the flames out. He did that for about 2 seconds and then got the heck out of the basket and lowered to safety.

 

All the stores around, including Costco, had no power and street lights for the next 10 blocks on the way home were out too.

 

I took some pics with my cell phone, so this is breaking new by Joey

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty exciting stuff, so glad he was okay. Too far to jump without breaking something or worse.

 

Joey

Yeah, that incident came in as an industrial accident, even though the guy in the lift was unharmed. Glad i didn't have to go deal with it, it sounded like a mess....

[Joey]

Yeah, that incident came in as an industrial accident, even though the guy in the lift was unharmed. Glad i didn't have to go deal with it, it sounded like a mess....

 

So do you know if they hit the overhead wires or what happened?

 

Joey

[Whopper]

So do you know if they hit the overhead wires or what happened?

 

Joey

 

Joey depending on the voltage and the condition of the cable insulation the guy wouldn't necessarily had to have hit the cable all he had to to was come close to it, at any rate he was lucky this time

[douG]

I would guess that the first lift contacted the conductor, shorting it to ground through the lift and tires, until an overcurrent device tripped or a transformer failed. Once the lines were dead, the second lift was then able to safely bring our lucky friend back down.

 

In theory, the guy would have had to complete the path to ground through his body for him to be killed by electrocution. On the other hand, arc flash and the resulting plasma fireball explosion can kill too.

[Whopper]

I would guess that the first lift contacted the conductor, shorting it to ground through the lift and tires, until an overcurrent device tripped or a transformer failed. Once the lines were dead, the second lift was then able to safely bring our lucky friend back down.

 

In theory, the guy would have had to complete the path to ground through his body for him to be killed by electrocution. On the other hand, arc flash and the resulting plasma fireball explosion can kill too.

Your a pretty fart smeller doogle

[Lostchild]

I worked for Wesbel when the two lineman were killed roping and rodding ducts for telephone cables. It was a Bell owned confined space(manhole) and it was one of their jobs. Bell ended up with $250 000 because it was their plant even though it was not in their control. Not sure what the Wesbell fine will be.

 

Hopefully you moved on before they closed the doors a few months ago.

 

I would guess that the first lift contacted the conductor, shorting it to ground through the lift and tires, until an overcurrent device tripped or a transformer failed. Once the lines were dead, the second lift was then able to safely bring our lucky friend back down.

 

Unfortunately noting started or ended safely with this accident.

 

Yep that is pretty much it but 'if' this was an Enersource hydro plant there is a good chance both the rescuer and first guy could've been killed. In most older hydro systems a breaker at the transformer will trip, killing power until it is manually reset. With the newer systems the breaker resets itself every 15 secs (computer controlled) until they reprogram the hydro path. A "hold off" (they program the computer not to reset the breaker should it tripped)on the line is required when working in proximity as well as hydro wire guards.

 

 

Hard to say what happened but I wouldn't be so quick to blame the operator, the pictures don't tell the real story, equipment failure is always a possibility. Either way glad everyone came out of it safely.

[mr blizzard]

The number one thing is that he was able to go home to his wife and kids. I over the years had to give some "compassionits" to remaining family, it is never easy to do. On the lighter side he was probably an over energetic OFNer who looked at the site and saw some of the amazing fishing on the lower Niagara and could not wait to get the job done so he could hook up his trailer and go. Tight lines just took on a whole new meaning. An was looking over him. Like my dad always use to say focus, focus, focus.