Church Fire - Watch the Live Wires!

L.A. County Firefighters encounter arcing high voltage lines at a 2 alarm church fire fought in moderate rain. Luckily, the guys on the roof were a safe distance from the arc and got nothing more than a good scare.

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People & Blogs

Tags:

• fire
• flames
• firefighting
• firefighters
• LACountyFD
• LAFD

[linemanbiermann]

@nakayle o thanks for clarifying that, i didnt know since i topped out 4 years ago

[Riot454di]

@linemanbiermann Yes

[nakayle]

@linemanbiermann High voltage (primary) lines draw long arcs when they hit together- totally difference than the sparks and burning bits of wire that low voltage (secondary) lines make when they short together.

[linemanbiermann]

@Riot454di wtf. are you high?



[linemanbiermann]

@nakayle pretty sure your wrong. theres a 3 phase line running above where they were spraying the water, lookes like it was going phase to ground.

[Riot454di]

riotpack is correct, the Edison system used here is DC - the mains is rectified to DC using a voltage doubling rectifier. parab121 - Churches dump a lot of holy water which seeps into the earth and is of a very high resistance which allows the earth pin to float above actual earth "potential" causing hum between different grounded infrastructure.The other cause of hum is long leads and running close to power cables (Churches are against using balanced systems as they are "Evil") so that answers

[parab121]

@riotpack What in the world are you talking about? Churches use the same power everyone else uses. AC dose not create hum in PA systems. Ground loops or missing grounds cause hum.

[nakayle]

Those were the low voltage secondary service drop wires hitting together producing a short circuit fault current which was melting pieces of the conductors each time they hit. This often happens during fires because the insulation that normally prevents them from touching has burn away.

[kubarebo]

@riotpack LOL.

[elgavilan2000]

@riotpack um, no.