ARC ENEMY - One Family Dies, Another Gets Lucky in Bouts with Electricity

  • Published
  • By Tim Barela
  • Torch Magazine
RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  When I read an AOL News story about a family of three getting electrocuted while putting up a ham radio at their Palm Bay, Fla., home Oct. 12, it brought back chilling memories of my own "shocking" near-disaster with electricity.

In the case of the family from Florida, police said a father, a mother and their 15-year-old son were attempting to raise the antenna when they lost control of the pole and it hit an overhead power line. The impact sent 13,000 volts of electricity through the pole, killing all three family members. My own experience could have had a similar horrific ending.

My family of five had just moved into a new home. We were excited to get everything in place. One item in particular presented its own problem. It was a huge wall clock we'd purchased from the Black Forest while stationed in Germany. It's heavy, and it needed a sturdy 2-by-4 from which to hang.

Finding a wall stud isn't always easy, but I was thrilled to discover one in the perfect spot on the wall on my first try. I used a 3-and-a-half-inch screw -- long enough to serve as a sturdy holder for the clock, but not so long as to go all the way through the depth of the sheetrock and wall stud.

Less than a week after I'd hung the clock, the circuit breaker began clicking the power off. We'd reset the breaker, but it would continue to shut down our power. We figured that since it was a brand new home, some kinks still needed to be worked out with the wiring.

It didn't take the electrician long to discover the problem. The 2-by-4 to which I'd fastened the clock wasn't a stud at all. It was actually a board that ran from the junction box with all the electrical wiring to the house running along it. Since this 2-by-4 was flat against the wall, the 3-and-a-half-inch screw I used easily penetrated the shorter depth and poked into one of the wires. It took a few days for it to break through the protective plastic casing around the wire, but once it did, that's what continued tripping the circuit breaker.

When the electrician cut away a section of sheet rock, I felt my heart sink when I saw what lay underneath. The wood had been badly charred, and the screw had been so heated by the electrical arc that it melted the metal in one spot. I could only think of the potential fire that could have started while my wife and three kids slept at night. We were lucky.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, electrical fires claim the lives of 750 Americans each year and injure 1,500 more. Some of these fires are caused by electrical system failures and appliance defects, but many more are caused by the misuse and poor maintenance of electrical appliances, incorrectly installed wiring, and overloaded circuits and extension cords.An extension cord related fire occurs every six minutes.

December is the most dangerous month for electrical fires. Fire deaths are highest in winter months because of the increase in indoor activities. Most electrical wiring fires start in the bedroom.