3 Dead & 3 Injured In Fayetteville, ARK

[dereckbc]

Received a strange phone call today from the ?Washington County Arkansas Emergency Center? today at work. They asked us to block Land-to-Mobile calls for 60-minutes. Thought it was strange, but we complied.

Then almost immediately 1 of my techs called me a said there was some sort of accident at Arkansas University campus on the Agriculture grounds. I was only 10-minutes from there and got curious and went for a look see.

Upon arrival I learned there was some sort of electrocution accident. Using some utility privileges I moved in closer for some details.

What I learned is there was a Fall Festival being set up and some tent erectors were erecting a metal support tent pole and made contact with a low hanging overhead power line. The two handling the pole were killed instantly, one very nearby died on the scene, and 3 other close by were severely injured.

Strange thing is the local news reported they came in contact with 200-volts (non-sense). The line I seen was primary distribution. I didn't think about the line voltage at the time when I seen it, but it looked like 4160 or 13.2 to me. Obliviously the local news had their facts wrong, as step-rise potential killed 1 and injured 3.

 

[charlie]

Re: 3 Dead & 3 Injured In Fayetteville, ARK

WOW, I hate hear about that type of accident. It is unfortunate that there was no one around to keep this type of thing from happening. The problem I see from most of this type of festival is that the purpose is to raise funds for ??? and that they have no operating money.

Today, most of the US distributions lines are in the 15 kV class (13.8 kV, 13.2 kV, 12.47 kV, and 12 kV). There were some electric utilities that experimented with some 23 kV distribution and I have heard of some 34.5 kV but no one is using either of those much yet now of have plans for the future. There is still quite a bit of the 4.16 kV that has not been converted to the 15 kV class and a very little bit of the 2.4 kV delta distribution.

 

[luke warmwater]

Re: 3 Dead & 3 Injured In Fayetteville, ARK

Not to make light of the tragedy, but what was the purpose of blocking land-to-mobile calls?

 

[dereckbc]

Re: 3 Dead & 3 Injured In Fayetteville, ARK

Originally posted by luke warmwater:
Not to make light of the tragedy, but what was the purpose of blocking land-to-mobile calls?

I was not given a reason. What I suspect is they were trying to block vehicle traffic from entering the area. That area of the campus only has a two lane street with one route in and out, and there was a road block preventing traffic from entering. Not to mention there was a huge traffic jam in the area trying to figure a way in.

 

[dereckbc]

Re: 3 Dead & 3 Injured In Fayetteville, ARK

Charlie, was just watching the late news. Now they say 7KV. Well I used to work for the POCO and they do not have any 7KV distribution. I still think it was 13.2. Single insulator support on "T" pole.

 

[charlie]

Re: 3 Dead & 3 Injured In Fayetteville, ARK

The news will never get it right but I am guessing it was 12,470Y/7200 and the hit the 7200 volts to ground portion. Of course at 13.2 kV it is 13200Y/7620 (that is what our distribution system is except for some 4160 that has not been converted yet).

[ October 15, 2004, 06:35 AM: Message edited by: charlie ]

 

[dereckbc]

Re: 3 Dead & 3 Injured In Fayetteville, ARK

Originally posted by charlie:
I am guessing it was 12,470Y/7200 and the hit the 7200 volts to ground portion.

Had a Homer Simpsom moment and neglected the WYE portion.