On Thu, 11 May 2006 22:38:35 -0400, wrote:

On Thu, 11 May 2006 18:26:57 -0400, mm
wrote:

It took until Wednesday for someone to say how the girl was killed
last Friday in Baltimore.

It seems that the fence she was touching went in AFTER the power line
beneath it. The power line went to a light pole maybe 50 feet away
used to illuminate the softball field.

The fence was not the backstop, iiuc, but a 3 1/2 foot tall chain link
fence near the backstop. There was a cement footing for the pole, but
the pole extended about a quarter inch below the cement, and rested on
the cable. Eventually, it wore through the insulation and touched the
hot wire. It also cut the neutral wire**, although I don't know yet
if that is thought to have anything to do with the electrocution.

Why her? Doing her stretching before the game, she touched both this
first fence and another fence a couple feet away. One was hot and the
other was a ground.


**I don't know who it did all this with only a quarter inch, but
that's what they said and what their diagram showed.

The fence over the electric cable was built 20 or 30 years ago.


No one seems to remember who built it. Would they, should they have
checked for electric cables underneath 20 or 30 years ago? By using
maps or were there detectors in use then?

I doubt anyone even had a clute there was a wire there.
A GFCI would have saved he, as, very likely, would a person who knew
CPR.

She was breathing erratically but still breathing. If she was
breathing at all, I think that means her heart was beating.

I've also heard, although only once, that CPR is unlikely to save
someone's life. That they make a big deal when it works but it
usually doesn't. That's no reason not to try of course in cases where
the person isn't breathing or has no pulse.

Even GFCI's you speak about as if it was certain it would save someone
from electrocution. I have never heard anyone say it was certain.
(What voltage is used by the lights at athletic fields, btw?)