ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Touching a Power Line

A few months ago, a guy from the county came to my house and asked me to move my fire truck away from the power line running from the pole to my house. There needs to be 6 or 7 feet clearence under a power line so no one can reach up and grab it. Understandable, but my question is, can someone get shocked from touching an insulated power line? If so, what is the point in insulating it?

How do you KNOW the insulation hasn't been comprimised in ANY way at ANY point?

Someone on top of your truck with a tool...say a gaff or an axe (it is a fire truck )...could easily bash into the conductors and cause some damage to the insulation.

You have a fire truck parked at your house? Expecting problems?

Yeah, but come on. Clearance is required from the ground. There is no rule or law that a vehicle can't park below power lines. Yes there is potential for an accident, but people will kill themselves no matter what you do.

Ya know its been seen in many movies.

Using a power or phone drop as a "Zip Line".

Might be an atractive nuisance for that type of activity. You could get sued!

Ahhg, park anywhere you like!

Why was he messing around in your yard? Where you park is your business on your property, IMHO.

I'll also second the question... what are you doing with a rig?

Here in NJ some of the primary lines are not insulated at all. They are bare AL wires running from pole to pole. There was a carnival in town and they parked too close to a primary line and the POCO made them move their ride over about 15 feet.

What type of fire truck? Hook and ladder? Do you use this truck? Are you a fireman? Does the fire station issues a truck like boots? At 6 to seven feet away from service wire you are asking for an accident to happen, child see tight rope walker at service and no one says do not try this at home and sees your truck and there should be a ladder on the truck and this child is good balance and walks to the ketle and touches the stinger. So move the truck and don't question the the power line if you can get a shock, feel happy no one has got hurt.

I'm with Greg on this one.
No matter what you do to prevent a thing like this from happening, some idiot will always circumvent the system and come up with an even stupider means to an end.
Personally I'd never get up on the top of a Fire Engine in the first place, you'd look stupid if the thing took off with you up there.
I take it you mean the overhead service to your house, is the wiring you are talking about.
As long as the wiring is insulated for Full Working Voltage, I don't see a problem.

Can you get electrocuted by touching the overhead service conductors?. The answer is a definite " yes ". Every year people die from touching those things, even linemen. People carry aluminum ladders & metal pipe through the yard without looking up. The height requirments for residential driveways does not cover commercial vehicels ( fire trucks, delivery trucks ) because they are not normally parked there. The main problem I see, are poeple installing windows closer than 3 ft. or building decks ( without permits ) that allow access to the service cable. Remember that more peole are killed with unloaded guns than with loaded ones. Safety proceedures are to eliminate the chance of injury or death. The sure thing is a crime. Safety starts at home.