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| Discussion on Lightening Strike Destroys Horse Guard Fence | |
| Author | Message |
| Member: ajudson1 |
Posted on Sunday, Jul 18, 2010 - 11:16 am: Late last Wednesday afternoon I saw a line of storms moving our way on radar, and decided I'd be smart and put the horses in BEFORE it started raining. 3 hours later it seemed to be letting up and I thought I'd head out and let them back out for the night. I am soo glad I didn't go out then!A big crash and flash erupted to the west of us, and we all jumped! Power was out instantly and we all went in search of flashlights. This was about 8 p.m. Power came back on as soon as hubby switched the breaker switch and at that time other than the Internet being down, and the Directv single out, we thought we were o.k. I decided to keep the horses in so headed out to feed and give them water. Next morning I was awake at sunrise and quickly went out to let them out as they had been in for about 18 hours! I didn't have power in the barn so the fencer not clicking didn't concern me. (I had to also flip a breaker switch in the basement, not just the barn. My electrician husband seems to think I should just know these things!) It was muddy, buggy, and very humid so I didn't go back outside until late afternoon and that is when I saw the melted Horse Guard fence by the barn! And the blackened outlet. So at that point I thought the fencer got hit. Weird as it's under the eaves of the barn, but I am not a lightening expert so whatever. As I looked around I found a fence post off to the left side of the bottom picture in the treeline, that looked blackened a bit also. And there was more melted fence. A bit over 200' away. I've finally got the story pieced together; the strike was behind the fence, it seemed to follow in the ground until it hit the uncovered t-post, which exploded energy and there are pieces of sod in the trees above. The path jumped to the fencing, and what you see above is the end of the journey. Or maybe it followed the fencing to the fencer & outlet and went back out? What you can't see in the picture is the fencing has no wires left in it. That is just brown vinyl or whatever the HG fencing is made out of. The lightening just vaporized the strands of wire (stainless steel is it?) In some spots very thin strands of wire were floating onto wires below it. The fence closest to the strike was melted, and next came sections with like bullet holes through it! The corner tensioners were full of wire that was like soldered on! I had enough fencing to rebuild except my middle strand is still the burnt up part...no wires running through that section. My fencer is clicking, wires test right next to the barn, but I am not sure past that. Just checking holding a fork against the wire so not very "scientific." lol! Other than Cody being extremely nervous when I went out Wed night to give them hay and water, horses were fine. His stall door is about 8' from the blackened outlet, so I bet that made a bit of noise too! We did loose DSL until yesterday, our phone box on the house was BLACK! Garage door openers don't work. And my wireless weather station lost it's brain it seems. Thank God nothing caught on fire! And no tornadoes like so many are getting. I am glad the horses were in the barn; unless the barn catches on fire that seems like the best place during a storm.   
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| Member: scooter |
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| Member: vickiann |
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| Member: kpaint |
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| Member: canter |
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| Moderator: DrO |
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| Member: ajudson1 |
Posted on Tuesday, Jul 20, 2010 - 11:19 am: YIKES DrO!!!Glad you weren't seriously hurt! And a good reminder for me to ALWAYS get our horses in and my butt back in the house BEFORE the storm hits. Last night we had lightening to the south of us and I had to get our daughter convinced to get in the house. She was shooting baskets and the hoop in on the front of the TIN barn. Funny thing is I was just saying we never get good thunderstorms any more. Ya know the kind were the air feels charged with energy, and everything is so greeeen, and sometimes you see a beautiful rainbow afterwards? Me and my big mouth!!  I plan on being much more careful what I ask for from now on.
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