| JOIN OUR TEAM | BECOME A LICENSED PROVIDER | AMBULANCE DRIVER |
RESCUE |
OFF ROAD RESCUE | HOME |
LIGHTNING SAFETY AWARENESS
The capricious nature of thunderstorms makes
them extremely dangerous; however, following proven lightning
safety guidelines can reduce your risk of injury or death. You
are ultimately responsible for your personal safety and that of
your family.
You have the responsibility to act when threatened by lightning.
No place is absolutely safe from lightning; however, some places are much safer than others. The safest location during lightning activity is an enclosed building. The second safest location is an enclosed metal vehicle, car, truck, van, etc., but NOT a convertible, bike or other topless or soft top vehicle.
Safe Buildings
A safe building is one that is fully enclosed with a roof, walls
and floor, such as a home, school, office building or a shopping
center. Even inside, you should take precautions. Picnic
shelters and other partially open structures such as a dining
fly over a picnic table are NOT safe.
Enclosed buildings are safe because of wiring and plumbing. If
lightning strikes these types of buildings, or an outside
telephone pole, the electrical current from the flash will
typically travel through the wiring or the plumbing into the
ground. This is why you should stay away from showers, sinks,
hot tubs, etc., and electronic equipment such as TVs, radios,
and computers.
Lightning can damage or destroy electronics so its important to
have a proper lightning protection system connected to your
electronic equipment. The American Meteorological Society has
tips for protecting your electronics from lightning. Unsafe
Buildings
Examples of buildings which are unsafe include car ports,
covered but open garages, covered patio, picnic shelters, beach
shacks/pavilions, golf shelters, camping tents, large outdoor
tents, baseball dugouts and other partially open structures.
|
How Far Away Is Lightning From Me?
To estimate the distance between you and a lightning flash, use the "Flash to Bang" method: If you observe lightning, count the number of seconds until you hear thunder. Divide the number of seconds by five to get the distance in miles. Example:
If you see lightning and it takes 10 seconds before
you hear the thunder, then the lightning is 2 miles
away from you (10 divided by 5 = 2 miles).
Get to a safe location if the time between the lightning flash and the rumble of thunder is 30 seconds or less. |
Safe
Vehicle
A safe vehicle is a hard-topped car, SUV, minivan, bus, tractor, etc. (soft-topped convertibles are not safe). If you seek shelter in your vehicle, make sure all doors are closed and windows rolled up. Do not touch any metal surfaces. If you're driving when a thunderstorm starts, pull off the roadway. A lightning flash hitting the vehicle could startle you and cause temporary blindness, especially at night. Do not use electronic devices such as HAM radios or cell phones during a thunderstorm. Lightning striking the vehicle, especially the antennas, could cause serious injury if you are talking on the radio or holding the microphone at the time of the flash. Your vehicle and its electronics may be damaged if hit by lightning. Vehicles struck by lightning are known to have flat tires the next day. This occurs because the lightning punctures tiny holes in the tires. Vehicles have caught fire after being struck by lightning; however, there is no modern day documented cases of vehicles "exploding" due to a lightning flash. One of the most dangerous types of cloud-to-ground lightning are bolts from the blue. A "Bolt from the Blue" is a cloud-to-ground lighting flash that typically:
|
|
Bolts
From the Blue
One of the most dangerous types of cloud-to-ground lightning are bolts from the blue. A "Bolt from the Blue" is a cloud-to-ground lighting flash that typically:
|
Plan Ahead! Your best source of up-to-date weather information is a NOAA Weather Radio (NWR). Portable weather radios are handy for outdoor activities. If you don't have NWR, stay up to date via internet, TV, local radio or cell phone. If you are in a group, make sure all leaders or members of the group have a lightning safety plan and are ready to use it.
Determine how far you are from a safe enclosed building or a safe vehicle. As soon as you hear thunder, see lightning or see dark threatening clouds, get to a safe location. Then wait 30 minutes after the last rumble of thunder before you leave the safe location. If you are part of a group, particularly a large one, you will need more time to get all group members to safety. NWS recommends having professional lightning detection equipment so your group can be alerted from significant distances from the event site.|
|
Dead cows lined up along a metallic fence. Lightning struck the fence, and the current traveled along the fence killing the cows. Photo Courtesy Ruth Lyon-Bateman |
If lightning is in the immediate area, and there is no safe location nearby, get into the lightning desperation position. Crouch down but do NOT lay down. Bend your knees down while keeping your feet together.
Motorcyclist/Bicyclist: So has anyone been hit riding a bike? Here are just a few real examples from the last few years.
 Lightning Desperation Position |
If you absolutely cannot get to a safe
building or vehicle, here are some last resort choices:
|
Lightning tends to be a nervous system injury and may affect the brain, autonomic nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. When the brain is affected, the person often has difficulty with short-term memory, coding new information and accessing old information, multitasking, distractibility, irritability and personality change.
"Patients have difficulty in all areas that require them to analyze more items of information than they can handle simultaneously. They present (appear) as slow because it takes longer for smaller than normal chunks of information to be processed. They present as distractible because they do not have the spare capacity to monitor irrelevant stimuli at the same time as they are attending to the relevant stimulus. They present as forgetful because while they are concentrating on point A, they do not have the processing space to think about point B simultaneously. They present as inattentive because when the amount of information that they are given exceeds their capacities, they cannot take it all in."
Early on, survivors may complain
of intense headaches, ringing in the ears, dizziness, nausea,
vomiting and other post-concussion types of symptoms. Survivors
may also experience difficulty sleeping, sometimes sleeping
excessively at first and then only two or three hours at a time.
A few may develop seizure-like activity several weeks to months
after the
injury.
Other
Information & Resources
Thunderstorms, Tornadoes, Lightning...Nature's Most Violent Storms
Join the Mountain Ambulance Service Today
