It was a boneheaded move by certain members of that police department. They used a chemical weapon to shoot out a light, like something from a movie. And then they didn't even consider making the proper notification afterwards, thus setting the power company employees up to receive chemical burns while replacing the light. Down here in the states, that supervisors' meeting wouldn't have been so congenial.
@@nightwing36s They have every right to shoot it out in a situation they deem necessary for their safety, nobody with a brain would argue about that. Shooting it with a giant pepper bullet, now that's absolutely asinine. Didn't the moron who fired it get covered in powder? If they planned on staying in the area long enough they needed to turn the light off...who thought it would be smart to spread chemical weapons around?? Do they not have regular guns? Can't hit a target that size? Jesus...
@@ryanroberts1104 you don't fire a bullet into the air at a thin target like that, even if you don't miss in the dark, it goes right through it and who knows what it will hit on the other side. At least the cs round would not go far if they missed. And if they had the cs launcher, the swat team would have also had gas masks, so they all put them on, blast the light and wait a couple of minutes for the cloud to disperse. They probably figured that the powder would all blow away, and didn't consider it could cause any problems to anyone. They still should have notified the Utility, since the broken light could now be an electrical hazard.
Hey Everyone! Just a heads up! There's not a whole lot of visuals in this one 😬 As a Lineman, we run into all kinds of crazy stuff! I'm often asked: "What's the strangest call you've been to?" Well, most strange or crazy calls involve major accidents or incidents. Most times situations that aren't very pleasant... that or very interesting people or properties. Both of which I can't show a whole lot of on UA-cam. This situation however, was definitely a head scratcher to say the least! Another 50 cm of snow falling as we speak! ❄☃but phone hasn't rang yet! 🤞(Did I just jinx myself??) Have a great weekend all! 👊🥂
@@Bobsdecline Sure is. I love it though. I like the change in weather. I just bought a cheap old snowmobile to rip around on in the yard. A 94 Polaris 440. I was surprised to find one as cheap as I did. It's no looker but she rips.
That's awesome! I've got a 94 artic cat. Same deal, looks like crap but super fun to drive! Don't have a whole lot of money tied up into it, so zero stress about running it hard
@@Bobsdecline Thats where I'm at too. It was a heck of a deal and the thing is fun. It wakes up around 7,000 rpm and just hooks and books. That motor has more power than the chassis is made for lol. I can not in anyway, shape or form swing a 20,000$ sled. As much as I would like to be able to lol. Maybe one day.
After 23 years in the U.S. Army as soon as you started the story and I saw the powder on that light I thought of a pepperball or someone got wild with bear spray. I have thrown my share of C.S. grenades but either I've forgotten about the 40mm rounds or its new.
The 40mm rounds aren't something I've seen either. The seem pretty aggressive, it cracked the steel case on light. From what I've read online they're less of a "riot control" round and more geared for shooting through windows.
@@Bobsdecline sounds like something they wouldn't have let Sergeant First Class Scotsman get his hands on. I had, shall we say, a twisted sense of humor. Especially when I spent 36 months straight in Iraq (didn't think that one through).
@@Bobsdecline truthfully if i was in that situation again I would say yes again. I was "technically" an old man (in my mind 30's) and I couldn't have let a kid just starting in life do what I was doing. I take comfort that I've saved more lives than I've taken. Now I'm not quite brave enough to go pole climbing and grabbing live lines so you keep the content coming lad.
That squirrel evidence was pretty funny. Who would of thought the job was going to hot and spicy. Going hot now has new meaning. Those safety glasses probably saved your eyes.🤔
I think this is kind of interesting. The power company where I live in Virginia is AEP and I do a lot of construction work and I deal with the AEP guys as far as planning and coming out inspecting meter bases and things like that. I noticed one day when the AEP person came out he had this little sign on his truck that before he got in the truck he had to walk around and inspect to make sure there was nothing under or behind his truck before he pulled out so the magnet would go on the door right at the handle when he got out. I thought that was kind of a neat thing so one day I was out on one of my commercial properties and I noticed a lady and her husband that were there and I saw a small child when I arrived, I unloaded my tractor which was on a large trailer behind my truck and did what I needed to do so I loaded my tractor back up, as I was getting ready to pull out I didn't see the little kid anywhere and I thought about the AEP man telling me the reason they have that magnet on their truck when they get out. I got out of my truck and looked under it and I saw at the back of my trailer that little boys ball roll up under the the back wheels of my trailer and he was reaching under there to get his ball and had I pulled out I would have crushed that child ( I did check my mirrors and I did not see that child because of the angle my trailer was at) So my point for this comment to you as a lineman because I saw what another lineman did it caused me to take a second look which prevented an accident. I guess sometimes the safety measures seem ridiculous but I guess they're there for a reason.
WOW!!! That's a great lesson. Our employer makes us do a 360 degree walk around before moving vehicles for exactly the same reasons. :) Thank you for doing your inspection! :)
That's incredible! When I saw the radiation sign in the thumbnail...and you were talking the symptoms...seemed perhaps radiation exposure...and I kept thinking...how did that light get radioactive? iI was really puzzled! Glad it was chemical and not nuclear. :) Enjoy the vids! :)
radiation doesn't effect you that quickly, unless it's very high leakage rate, it's more of a long term creeper issues, with latent death type material. if it was very strong, you'd start feeling it pretty fast and begin croaking in no time. I seen that the light was shot out and powders color and knew more or less what happened, just not that it was swat/police, instead of some clown that got ahold of it and did it.
Any powder/goo that causes burning and any of the symptoms you've described, definitely sounds like pepperball (which contain powder of CS and talc) residue as well as C.S. spray (aka pepper/bear spray).... I'd hand the police chief the bill for the light and the suffering you and your workmate had to deal with whilst changing that light.
The craziest thing I saw at work power related was a large tree branch touching the primaries and a purple/white blinding flash and monster boom I felt sitting in my truck. High voltage is no joke, the branch vaporized and ashes floated down.
When I saw the red/pink residue in the light and matched that with the burning, especially when you said at your hat line, I was like “I’ll bet someone shot it with a pepper ball or something”
Wow man that's wild. Stay safe out there we just had a ice storm in Kentucky. A chemical plant I did electrical work for (and will never step foot back in there) wasn't the safest of plants and while my foreman and myself were working in a area we look around and see 3 guys walk over with full hazmat suits and respirators, we only had eye goggles on and regular ppe. We notice a fog kinda low to the ground so we ask "hey do we need to leave?" Their response.."ahh no your good it's just water". Also my response "ahh hell no I'm out" they wouldn't even allow phones past the security gate and we were told if we see a light green cloud and breathe in it would be our last breath and to evacuate the area. The whole "it's just water no worries" didn't curb my fears at all. I ended up telling my boss I'll get fired before I step foot back in there.
Thanks for sharing that. One would think they must clean up the scene after releasing hazardous substances! And notify the utility to repair the light.
I enjoyed the stories there guy...very entertaining!! I knew what the pink was back when you described the facial & eyes responses issues while handling the street light. Glad both of you two are ok ....and mystery solved!! I am surprised that NO BODY called & informed someone about the shooting out the light to begin with....would have saved a lot of trouble!! Usually if anyone discharges a weapon (Even rubber bullets) that an incident report is made and that is included in it - as well as the lead officer making sure outside agencies are notified if damages are done. LED lamp is one thing...but had that been one of them older mercury vapor lamp......could have caused a fire way later on as the transformer would have over heated or been hit as well. Always enjoyed this channel...thanks for posting this stuff...and thank your powers to be for allowing you to do this!! I know it really educates people as to why things take a bit longer when the power goes out! SUGGESTION: Please cover your companies ideas & responses on back up generators and WHY YOU NEED qualified electricians to do the work...might save a life down the road!! Thanks Jeff
That was a pretty funny story man. I knew you had some veteran in you. I couldn't pin point it but I just knew. I'll never forget the gas chamber. One of the drill sergeants, Drill Sgt Lee, put his sweater in one of our dryers for whatever reason and others were told not to take it out... I didn't get the message and went to swap my laundry and when he came foe his sweater, he called attention to out barracks and demanded to know why his sweater was moved. Me being honest and stepping forward saved not only the whole barracks from being smoked but myself from being smoked to death as well. Hope all is well with you and your family.
That was nuts. I was thinking it sounded like tear gas from what friends and relatives who have had CS training in the military have described. I had to laugh at the squirrel story. We had yet another tree rat take out power in early December hours before a storm with 100+mph (160+ kph) winds was expected to hit the area. I waited outside for the lineman to drive by to tell him what happened since I had already cleaned up the smelly mess. He was grateful for the info so he didn't have to patrol the whole branch line. Thankfully the city didn't get too much damage from the high winds and tornadoes but two of the smaller towns near by had their main feeders damaged and it took a small army of linemen working all night to repair a couple miles of damaged poles and wire to get the power back on. That was a weird storm too. 72F one day and barely above freezing the next. Hopefully that's the only time I ever hear the tornado sirens go off in December that's not for their monthly test.
I recently subscribed to this channel fascinating video excellent quality very well done sir keep up the amazing respect I have so much respect for line men regardless of which country it is in who work so hard to keep the power on and the lights on around the house
2:14 "as a customer when you call in a trouble call, the more information you give the better" - Let me tell you my little story about calling in a trouble call. Not your utility of course, but my local utility. I happen to be an electrical engineer who works on substations, so I know TF I am doing. The neutral failed on my house, completely open circuit - but it was intermittent. It would make connection again and work for a while, and then fail again. Obviously broken/loose conductor somewhere. A short bit of checking while it was acting up and confirmed it was on the utility side of the meter. Call the utility. Lady I spoke to did not even know what a neutral was, or what open circuit meant. I said, could I just speak to the lineman or the dispatcher? Nope, you cant do that. Ok well just send the crew out and I will talk to them when I get here. Sir you need to stay away from our crews for your safety and for COVID reasons. Ok but the problem is intermittent, so the information I have will help them find it. Otherwise if they get here and its not doing it, will they be able to find it? If the problem is inside your house they will not be able to assist you. What? Thats not what intermittent means woman, I already told you its on your side of the meter. Yeah but it could be in your house. Woman do you even know where the meter is??? I had about had it with her but finally got to her saying ok tell me what it does and dont use the words neutral or open circuit because they arent on my sheet. What do you mean on your sheet? I have a sheet here of the possible things I can put the ticket in for. Like "my power is out" or "my lights are flickering". I cant type what you say, I can only choose one of these 8 things on the list. For F*CK sake!! Okay, put "my lights are flickering" and we'll go from there. To their credit, in spite of the utter stupidity of their customer service person and the insane limitations on their ticket system, the linewoman who came out knew her shit. Without me even talking to her, she went right to the problem. Her fix was a little bit janky (wrapped some bare aluminum #10 around both sides of the break), but it worked. She must be used to getting absolutely no information from the dispatcher and just figuring it out on her own.
Great story Aaron. Here in Central MA, I haven’t had much of a break either. Week 3 with one day off, and now I’m on call for the weekend. Stay safe out there, in the snow.
Wow In the UK we call the fire brigade who have full hasmat kit and would have it analysed it. They was the first responders for the novochoc nerve agent attacks great to have this service as many more would have died.
That’s crazy! I’m willing to bet that incident is a ONE-OFF lol heard many bizarre, funny & scary stories from Lineman. My most memorable times have happened when driving ROW looking at a line & a PO landowner let’s me have it, but most memorable was getting a (rented) side by side stuck, hiking 2.5 miles to our truck, having to drive into town to buy chains, another 2.5 mile hike back to where it’s stuck, finally getting unstuck, arriving back at our truck only to find a gate locked between us & our truck (we had parked outside the fence of a business & had permission to take side by through open gate but because it was so late when we got back business had locked everything) called the rental place 2 hrs away & informed them we wouldn’t be dropping it off, instead they’d have to come get it the next day because my coworker & I were exhausted but eager to start our 10 hr drive back home! It all worked out but we definitely paid a premium for them to pick up their gutless side by side 😊 good times!
I guessed it was probably CS. Then I'm trying to think of a scenario where a street light would get covered in it... someone climbed on to it and they pepperballed them? Nope, just the Tac guys shooting out the lights with a CS filled batton round 🤷 Would have thought they'd mention that so whoever went out to repair it would know. A bit worrying that your fire service didn't know how to deal with a potential unknown chemical incident though - even if that was just immediately calling out a company that does. And that crispy squirrel impression in the snow 😁
That's a hell of a story! You'd think that'd be standard protocol if they do that IMO! I mean SOMEONE has 2 fix the light!? Would have been nice 2 get a warning ⚠️ 🙄 😒!
I was worried because it was a pink powder and I immediately thought beryllium oxide but that made absolutely no sense to use nowadays and wouldn’t match the symptoms. I couldn’t possibly conceive that it would be from tear gas. Excellent investigative work on that by the way!
I know some guys that used to dismantle microwaves and those idiots were smashing the beryllium oxide containing ceramic part of the magnetron. I get its not used much now but these were ancient microwaves. I wonder if they got sick from it...
Great find on your part and good resolution of a scary story. I also went through tear gas training when I was in the military many years ago. I surprised it persisted in the light for so long. As you mentioned not fun, especially for you and the other guy because you were unaware of the cause.
I'm surprised they didn't inform you of that, here in Vegas our police have to inform the power company whenever they damage something like a light or power pole. What also surprises me is that this third party company that disposed of the lighting device did NOT send it in to be analyzed (something that is, also, required here in Vegas regardless of if you know what the substance is or not) But different rules and policies for different areas.
Thanks for sharing. Recently found your vids and been working thru them. This story is great because it shows your dedication to what you do and others safety. Too many places stuff happens and as soon as it's clear and over it's gone and a few people shrug and go on with life. So many times things get brought up to great people that live and breathe what they do or are passionate about and it still goes nowhere. Great this even though rate situation was actually followed through and discussion a bottom up then top down fashion.
Not your typical day thats for sure. I was thinking maybe pepper ball (powdered mace, which sound like what the farret round is filled with.) So very intresting.
At my job I work as a flagger and I have done first aid. One job I was working first aid and they needed someone to sit in a room and monitor that tagged out lines were not interfered with. I mean where electricians had set power off and marked it. People had turned it back on and someone had been hurt. So I did that for a few weeks. For about a week there was one constantly tagged out line that I absolutely refused to let any subcontractors turn back on without the associated tag. That went on for weeks. I remember one especially angry supervisor yelling at me almost spitting in my face as he ranted out it. I ended up deescalating the situation but it was dicey for a bit. About week four a guy came in with the correct tag and set the line active again. I told him all about the various people getting upset and the one guy who lost his cool about it. The guy went white as sheet and swallowed a few times. After about a minute he asked me if i could write it up and give details with witnesses about every incident etc. I wrote it up and passed it to him via email. Later the next day I was called away to the main trailer for a safety meeting. I was asked to detail my job, my duties on site, and pretty much everything I had been doing. They wanted to see my various tickets and qualifications. I had noticed worksafe was there and so was my company rep. I worked for a temp agency. After about an hour of people being very serious and repeated questioning by various officials I was told I would be notified about anything relevant I needed to know. I found out later it was actually critically important that I followed the instructions I had been given. I also found out I should never have been put in that situation and it required 24/7 supervision by someone who had at least some training. I imagine some people got in a lot of trouble for what happened. I never worked on or around such stuff but that incident where I sat by myself in room where my job was to say no to anyone without a tag who wanted to turn power on was very boring but by following the procedures I had been given I hope it saved someone from injury.
Been working in the industry 17 years and the worst job ive have attended was a failure of a 275kV current transformer. The substation is local to my area and when the CT failed there was reports of a loud explosion and fireball in the sky on the local facebook group. When i attended the site afterwards the whole substation bay including VT, CT's, isolators and Circuit breaker had damage and signs of burnt oil on the insulators. We found a dead rabbit about 30m away from the explosion. On the plus side 4 weeks before the equipment failure i was involved in a major maintenance on the circuit breaker and although it was substantially damaged it tripped as it should of done to clear the fault. It was the last time it ever operated and the entire bay was ripped out and replaced due to the extensive damage. It does make you realise that when one of these pieces of equipment fails it normally ends in a spectacular failure.
They incinerated the lamp without knowing what the substance was on there? So, they released an unknown chemical compound into the atmosphere without knowing what it is? That seems rather unsafe. I'm glad it worked out for you. But, there are chemicals out there that can have long term health consequences that might not show up for days, weeks, or even years.
I did have se of the same concerns, but from my understanding; In order to test the substance, they would have to have something to go by. They could do specific tests to see if it matched chemical compound for those particulars. An example would be a "dope" test. If the chemical turns blue then it's a positive match... If it doesn't, it simply means it's not that particular substance and nothing more. Same goes for getting checked out at a hospital. If there are no sypmtoms (or they are gone) and vitals are good. They wouldn't have much to by. Generic blood tests included. The high heat of the incineration would release negligible amounts of toxic substances as well. That being said, I do believe testing of an unknown substance is possible, but not something that comes cheap or only done in circumstances that involved dire consequences. Again, this is only my limited understanding of the possibilities after being involved in some discussions around the incident
@@Bobsdecline Yes, testing can be done on an unknown substance to determine the chemical makeup and match that to a known substance. But, it has to be done in a lab on very expensive equipment by highly educated people, so not cheap. Anyway, glad you're OK and you solved the mystery,
My dog ran a squirrel up a poll, and it bridged the gap between the transformer.... It was definitely a sight to behold as a young child. Taught me to not mess with high voltage electricity! Lol
Those law enforcement officers should be held accountable for not reporting what they shot the light with, as well as not reporting the incident to the utility company. That was highly irresponsible of them.
That's nuts. Everything you were describing fit either CS powder or severe radiation but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how either would have contaminated and broken the light.
A tree limb, about 2ft across at the fat end fell across a 3ph primary, pinning the wires to the ground. Line workers made it safe and arborists were called in. As they were cutting, a loud CRACK as 100+lbs of wood was catapulted into the sky. Another hazard of "high tension" wire to beware of.
2:42 whose lights would go real bright / real dim? Do they still use incandescent bulbs in Canada? In the US, they mostly have been phased out entirely. A CFL would do other wonky things from low/high voltage. It probably wouldn't even turn on, or it might just go pop. (Or it might even just show as normal brightness if it regulated the input voltage well.)
Had to wait to change a broke pole for the bomb squad to clear the scene. When FD responded to the accident, they found what turned out to be a dummy grenade in the ditch.
If I recall, they determined it was just a coincidence and it had probably been there for a while., but it was on a rural highway so there wasn't a lot of pedestrian traffic in the ditch to find it lol
I know it's winter. But what you described before you said what it was I was thinking giant hogweed. How is it working after our during an ice storm? Nice video knowing it's half the battle.
all the tools and like the spot light does the company pay for or reimburse you or is it like a mechanic you buy your own tools for the job? obviously the truck belongs to the company just curious on the nice tools
Im a residential specialist in the bay area of california. I had a customer with randomly tripping arc fault breakers. It would happen over different circuits. So we replaced the sub-panel, re-spliced the circuit. Right before i was about to have her sign for a 20k rewire on her house i said you should have the utility out to check their splice box and behind her meter. They found it. It was a burning meter leg on her panel. Saved her a ton of money and mud in my face.
Oh that good ole CS burn. I was thinking it was pepper balls but CS makes sense. It's surprising how little CS you need to be exposed to for that burn to start. Hey at least it wasn't something worse.
As soon as you showed the picture, and how his skin burned I knew it was CS, or pepper spray, pepper ball of some kind. The reason I know is my wife had some mace in the center console of our car this car center console is very small about 8" deep and 6" square. She had it jammed with lot of stuff one day I go to clean it out and notice some dried red stuff and some liquid also gets on my fingers. I go to rub my face and it starts to burn that causes me to rub more gets in my eye and wow did it burn then I realized what happened. The center console was jammed with so much stuff closing the lid had caused the mace to spray in there, or leak somehow got on everything I had to wash my eyes, put gloves on to remove everything else. Then carefully wash everything down ended up using denatured Alcohol to clean out the plastic get rid of all the mace.
Dust on the light was OC pepper dust from a sublethal weapon that generally cops use. The thing that launches it looks like a giant nerf gun. 😅😅😅 glad you made it ok though. 🤔
This was a really interesting story! Spoiler alert below! Seems like a really dumb idea to use the powdered CS grenade to take out the light. Surely the powder drifted down onto them. It was expensive compared to a shotgun shell (but quieter, which must be why they chose it).
OK I remember hearing about that crow/squirrel call when it came in; it was one of those we overheard the person repeating what the caller was saying and all of us were listening cuz it sounded wild moments 🤣😂
You company should have been all over this because your safety could have been at risk. I was sent to help pump out a pit that a transformer blew up in. An police officer stop and said they think there is an knife used to stab someone is in the pit. Well we had to call them back because we found an knife.
Hey Andrew! Those ones are the Milwaukee anti fog. We added em to our stores list after having trouble with safety glasses fogging up when masking was required. They're very comfortable and the anti fog works really well! The biggest complaint from our guys is that the coating seems to scratch easier, but with proper care it hasn't been an issue for myself. Most of our guys made the switch over our uvex
It was a boneheaded move by certain members of that police department. They used a chemical weapon to shoot out a light, like something from a movie. And then they didn't even consider making the proper notification afterwards, thus setting the power company employees up to receive chemical burns while replacing the light. Down here in the states, that supervisors' meeting wouldn't have been so congenial.
And let alone the assholish vandalization of property just cuz.
@@nightwing36s They have every right to shoot it out in a situation they deem necessary for their safety, nobody with a brain would argue about that. Shooting it with a giant pepper bullet, now that's absolutely asinine. Didn't the moron who fired it get covered in powder? If they planned on staying in the area long enough they needed to turn the light off...who thought it would be smart to spread chemical weapons around??
Do they not have regular guns? Can't hit a target that size? Jesus...
They are highly trained meatheads.
At least the company knows who to bill for replacement now too.
@@ryanroberts1104 you don't fire a bullet into the air at a thin target like that, even if you don't miss in the dark, it goes right through it and who knows what it will hit on the other side.
At least the cs round would not go far if they missed.
And if they had the cs launcher, the swat team would have also had gas masks, so they all put them on, blast the light and wait a couple of minutes for the cloud to disperse.
They probably figured that the powder would all blow away, and didn't consider it could cause any problems to anyone.
They still should have notified the Utility, since the broken light could now be an electrical hazard.
Hey Everyone!
Just a heads up! There's not a whole lot of visuals in this one 😬
As a Lineman, we run into all kinds of crazy stuff! I'm often asked: "What's the strangest call you've been to?"
Well, most strange or crazy calls involve major accidents or incidents. Most times situations that aren't very pleasant... that or very interesting people or properties. Both of which I can't show a whole lot of on UA-cam. This situation however, was definitely a head scratcher to say the least!
Another 50 cm of snow falling as we speak! ❄☃but phone hasn't rang yet! 🤞(Did I just jinx myself??)
Have a great weekend all!
👊🥂
We've got almost 2 feet in the past week or so. I couldn't believe the snow was over my knees!
@@mikeznel6048 I think this storm will put us over 200 cm in the last 4 weeks. It's absolutely nuts out there!
@@Bobsdecline Sure is. I love it though. I like the change in weather. I just bought a cheap old snowmobile to rip around on in the yard. A 94 Polaris 440. I was surprised to find one as cheap as I did. It's no looker but she rips.
That's awesome! I've got a 94 artic cat. Same deal, looks like crap but super fun to drive! Don't have a whole lot of money tied up into it, so zero stress about running it hard
@@Bobsdecline Thats where I'm at too. It was a heck of a deal and the thing is fun. It wakes up around 7,000 rpm and just hooks and books. That motor has more power than the chassis is made for lol. I can not in anyway, shape or form swing a 20,000$ sled. As much as I would like to be able to lol. Maybe one day.
Mad respect for your professionality, your job, your daily fatigue, your time at our service. Thanks a lot.
Thanks Lu 👊👊
After 23 years in the U.S. Army as soon as you started the story and I saw the powder on that light I thought of a pepperball or someone got wild with bear spray. I have thrown my share of C.S. grenades but either I've forgotten about the 40mm rounds or its new.
The 40mm rounds aren't something I've seen either. The seem pretty aggressive, it cracked the steel case on light. From what I've read online they're less of a "riot control" round and more geared for shooting through windows.
@@Bobsdecline sounds like something they wouldn't have let Sergeant First Class Scotsman get his hands on. I had, shall we say, a twisted sense of humor. Especially when I spent 36 months straight in Iraq (didn't think that one through).
Oh wow, yeah that's a long tour!
@@Bobsdecline truthfully if i was in that situation again I would say yes again. I was "technically" an old man (in my mind 30's) and I couldn't have let a kid just starting in life do what I was doing. I take comfort that I've saved more lives than I've taken. Now I'm not quite brave enough to go pole climbing and grabbing live lines so you keep the content coming lad.
That's very interesting and you seem quite humble. That's great you hear that you were able to make a positive impact. 🙏👊🥂
Fascinating story mate. You had me gripped right to the end wondering what it was. All the best.
Every soldier knew exactly what that was the moment you started talking about it, we've ALL felt that (3 times for lucky me!).
That's bizarre.
That squirrel evidence was pretty funny.
Who would of thought the job was going to hot and spicy. Going hot now has new meaning.
Those safety glasses probably saved your eyes.🤔
I think this is kind of interesting. The power company where I live in Virginia is AEP and I do a lot of construction work and I deal with the AEP guys as far as planning and coming out inspecting meter bases and things like that. I noticed one day when the AEP person came out he had this little sign on his truck that before he got in the truck he had to walk around and inspect to make sure there was nothing under or behind his truck before he pulled out so the magnet would go on the door right at the handle when he got out. I thought that was kind of a neat thing so one day I was out on one of my commercial properties and I noticed a lady and her husband that were there and I saw a small child when I arrived, I unloaded my tractor which was on a large trailer behind my truck and did what I needed to do so I loaded my tractor back up, as I was getting ready to pull out I didn't see the little kid anywhere and I thought about the AEP man telling me the reason they have that magnet on their truck when they get out. I got out of my truck and looked under it and I saw at the back of my trailer that little boys ball roll up under the the back wheels of my trailer and he was reaching under there to get his ball and had I pulled out I would have crushed that child ( I did check my mirrors and I did not see that child because of the angle my trailer was at) So my point for this comment to you as a lineman because I saw what another lineman did it caused me to take a second look which prevented an accident. I guess sometimes the safety measures seem ridiculous but I guess they're there for a reason.
WOW!!! That's a great lesson. Our employer makes us do a 360 degree walk around before moving vehicles for exactly the same reasons. :) Thank you for doing your inspection! :)
Doing a 360 walk around is also common training for fire departments, etc.
@@kd5byb Amazing how many Ham Radio ops have commented on this channel, N8OOF.
@@ke6gwf Amazing how many Ham Radio ops have commented on this channel, N8OOF.
I'm from Alexandria Virginia 🇺🇸
That's incredible! When I saw the radiation sign in the thumbnail...and you were talking the symptoms...seemed perhaps radiation exposure...and I kept thinking...how did that light get radioactive? iI was really puzzled! Glad it was chemical and not nuclear. :) Enjoy the vids! :)
radiation doesn't effect you that quickly, unless it's very high leakage rate, it's more of a long term creeper issues, with latent death type material. if it was very strong, you'd start feeling it pretty fast and begin croaking in no time.
I seen that the light was shot out and powders color and knew more or less what happened, just not that it was swat/police, instead of some clown that got ahold of it and did it.
Maybe use a biohazard sign in the thumbnail
@@badboybill007 As it is a chemical poison, ☠ is possibly best.
that is a Biohazard symbol, not Nuclear😑
@@DesielRiggz1 yeah, biohazard
Any powder/goo that causes burning and any of the symptoms you've described, definitely sounds like pepperball (which contain powder of CS and talc) residue as well as C.S. spray (aka pepper/bear spray).... I'd hand the police chief the bill for the light and the suffering you and your workmate had to deal with whilst changing that light.
Also the HAZMAT disposal. That ain't cheap.
@@user2C47 HENCE SENDING THE BILL to the finest goons.
That story brought a tear to your eye.
Chuckle
The craziest thing I saw at work power related was a large tree branch touching the primaries and a purple/white blinding flash and monster boom I felt sitting in my truck. High voltage is no joke, the branch vaporized and ashes floated down.
When I saw the red/pink residue in the light and matched that with the burning, especially when you said at your hat line, I was like “I’ll bet someone shot it with a pepper ball or something”
Wow man that's wild. Stay safe out there we just had a ice storm in Kentucky. A chemical plant I did electrical work for (and will never step foot back in there) wasn't the safest of plants and while my foreman and myself were working in a area we look around and see 3 guys walk over with full hazmat suits and respirators, we only had eye goggles on and regular ppe. We notice a fog kinda low to the ground so we ask "hey do we need to leave?" Their response.."ahh no your good it's just water". Also my response "ahh hell no I'm out" they wouldn't even allow phones past the security gate and we were told if we see a light green cloud and breathe in it would be our last breath and to evacuate the area. The whole "it's just water no worries" didn't curb my fears at all.
I ended up telling my boss I'll get fired before I step foot back in there.
Smart!
I guess a hot attic doesn't seem so bad now....
Very clever but isn't it common sense to go the opposite way of hazmat suit clad people if you yourself aren't in proper gear?🧐
Thanks for sharing that. One would think they must clean up the scene after releasing hazardous substances! And notify the utility to repair the light.
I enjoyed the stories there guy...very entertaining!! I knew what the pink was back when you described the facial & eyes responses issues while handling the street light. Glad both of you two are ok ....and mystery solved!! I am surprised that NO BODY called & informed someone about the shooting out the light to begin with....would have saved a lot of trouble!! Usually if anyone discharges a weapon (Even rubber bullets) that an incident report is made and that is included in it - as well as the lead officer making sure outside agencies are notified if damages are done. LED lamp is one thing...but had that been one of them older mercury vapor lamp......could have caused a fire way later on as the transformer would have over heated or been hit as well. Always enjoyed this channel...thanks for posting this stuff...and thank your powers to be for allowing you to do this!! I know it really educates people as to why things take a bit longer when the power goes out! SUGGESTION: Please cover your companies ideas & responses on back up generators and WHY YOU NEED qualified electricians to do the work...might save a life down the road!! Thanks Jeff
*Fascinating!* Thank you for the back stories! ❤
That was a pretty funny story man. I knew you had some veteran in you. I couldn't pin point it but I just knew. I'll never forget the gas chamber. One of the drill sergeants, Drill Sgt Lee, put his sweater in one of our dryers for whatever reason and others were told not to take it out... I didn't get the message and went to swap my laundry and when he came foe his sweater, he called attention to out barracks and demanded to know why his sweater was moved. Me being honest and stepping forward saved not only the whole barracks from being smoked but myself from being smoked to death as well. Hope all is well with you and your family.
Oh got to love the ole gas hut. Did you yell GAS GAS GAS lol. Best part of my army training was getting gassed.
Pretty reckless of the RCMP, which is not surprising. Hope you guys billed them for the damages and the cost of the response.
That was nuts. I was thinking it sounded like tear gas from what friends and relatives who have had CS training in the military have described. I had to laugh at the squirrel story. We had yet another tree rat take out power in early December hours before a storm with 100+mph (160+ kph) winds was expected to hit the area. I waited outside for the lineman to drive by to tell him what happened since I had already cleaned up the smelly mess. He was grateful for the info so he didn't have to patrol the whole branch line. Thankfully the city didn't get too much damage from the high winds and tornadoes but two of the smaller towns near by had their main feeders damaged and it took a small army of linemen working all night to repair a couple miles of damaged poles and wire to get the power back on. That was a weird storm too. 72F one day and barely above freezing the next. Hopefully that's the only time I ever hear the tornado sirens go off in December that's not for their monthly test.
Bloody good work ... thanks for making these ...
Lmaooooo! Great story. For a minute there I was worried we weren't going to find out what happened.
Great story, sir. I was on the seat of my pants... glad it was figured out instead of a perpetual mystery...
I recently subscribed to this channel fascinating video excellent quality very well done sir keep up the amazing respect I have so much respect for line men regardless of which country it is in who work so hard to keep the power on and the lights on around the house
And thank you for your service🇨🇦🫡
Wow! That's a heck of a coincidence. Thanks for sharing👍
Like I said before, you guys are worth every penny. Be safe out there!
2:14 "as a customer when you call in a trouble call, the more information you give the better" - Let me tell you my little story about calling in a trouble call. Not your utility of course, but my local utility. I happen to be an electrical engineer who works on substations, so I know TF I am doing. The neutral failed on my house, completely open circuit - but it was intermittent. It would make connection again and work for a while, and then fail again. Obviously broken/loose conductor somewhere. A short bit of checking while it was acting up and confirmed it was on the utility side of the meter. Call the utility. Lady I spoke to did not even know what a neutral was, or what open circuit meant. I said, could I just speak to the lineman or the dispatcher? Nope, you cant do that. Ok well just send the crew out and I will talk to them when I get here. Sir you need to stay away from our crews for your safety and for COVID reasons. Ok but the problem is intermittent, so the information I have will help them find it. Otherwise if they get here and its not doing it, will they be able to find it? If the problem is inside your house they will not be able to assist you. What? Thats not what intermittent means woman, I already told you its on your side of the meter. Yeah but it could be in your house. Woman do you even know where the meter is??? I had about had it with her but finally got to her saying ok tell me what it does and dont use the words neutral or open circuit because they arent on my sheet. What do you mean on your sheet? I have a sheet here of the possible things I can put the ticket in for. Like "my power is out" or "my lights are flickering". I cant type what you say, I can only choose one of these 8 things on the list. For F*CK sake!! Okay, put "my lights are flickering" and we'll go from there. To their credit, in spite of the utter stupidity of their customer service person and the insane limitations on their ticket system, the linewoman who came out knew her shit. Without me even talking to her, she went right to the problem. Her fix was a little bit janky (wrapped some bare aluminum #10 around both sides of the break), but it worked. She must be used to getting absolutely no information from the dispatcher and just figuring it out on her own.
Haha I would have got real testy with the woman on the phone as soon as she tried telling me I couldn't go near their employees 🤬
Excellent video Aaron, with an intriguing twist!
Great story Aaron. Here in Central MA, I haven’t had much of a break either. Week 3 with one day off, and now I’m on call for the weekend. Stay safe out there, in the snow.
Wow that’s definitely a strange one and that must have been really satisfying for you to put the pieces together to solve the mystery
Wow, that was an interesting one.. Glad your ok buddy.. Looking forward to seeing that work light review, and behind the scenes ! Take care buddy !
Cheers! 👊👊
Wow In the UK we call the fire brigade who have full hasmat kit and would have it analysed it. They was the first responders for the novochoc nerve agent attacks great to have this service as many more would have died.
That’s crazy! I’m willing to bet that incident is a ONE-OFF lol heard many bizarre, funny & scary stories from Lineman. My most memorable times have happened when driving ROW looking at a line & a PO landowner let’s me have it, but most memorable was getting a (rented) side by side stuck, hiking 2.5 miles to our truck, having to drive into town to buy chains, another 2.5 mile hike back to where it’s stuck, finally getting unstuck, arriving back at our truck only to find a gate locked between us & our truck (we had parked outside the fence of a business & had permission to take side by through open gate but because it was so late when we got back business had locked everything) called the rental place 2 hrs away & informed them we wouldn’t be dropping it off, instead they’d have to come get it the next day because my coworker & I were exhausted but eager to start our 10 hr drive back home! It all worked out but we definitely paid a premium for them to pick up their gutless side by side 😊 good times!
That was like watching a Mr. Ballen episode for lineman. Pretty cool
Wow Aaron some Crazy story . STAY SAFE just keep on going. I will be Patient on the channel and wait for the Next Install..
Crazy story! Stay safe out there!
I guessed it was probably CS. Then I'm trying to think of a scenario where a street light would get covered in it... someone climbed on to it and they pepperballed them? Nope, just the Tac guys shooting out the lights with a CS filled batton round 🤷
Would have thought they'd mention that so whoever went out to repair it would know.
A bit worrying that your fire service didn't know how to deal with a potential unknown chemical incident though - even if that was just immediately calling out a company that does.
And that crispy squirrel impression in the snow 😁
A friend of mine went on a single outage transformer fuse blown climbed the pole and found a fish on the high side must have been dropped from a eagle
Hah! That's a good one
blogger true story
I totally believe it! We had a bald eagle drop a mouse on our truck lol .
A fish is way cooler tho, that would be a good pic!
Love the videos mate! Watching from Australia, keep up the good work 👍
Wow, that’s very interesting! I never would’ve thought about that being the cause of this problem.
Awesome story man! Thanks for sharing. 👊🏻
What a wild story. Glad you're safe!
That's a hell of a story! You'd think that'd be standard protocol if they do that IMO! I mean SOMEONE has 2 fix the light!? Would have been nice 2 get a warning ⚠️ 🙄 😒!
I was worried because it was a pink powder and I immediately thought beryllium oxide but that made absolutely no sense to use nowadays and wouldn’t match the symptoms. I couldn’t possibly conceive that it would be from tear gas. Excellent investigative work on that by the way!
I know some guys that used to dismantle microwaves and those idiots were smashing the beryllium oxide containing ceramic part of the magnetron. I get its not used much now but these were ancient microwaves. I wonder if they got sick from it...
sure if you need a Nutron catalyzer. drop the oxide and its what ITER is using for its reactor shield.
Hope your storm recovery went well buddy! We were out for a few days down here! Glad you’re well and busy!
HEY, HEY you're past your 50K sub goal now!!!
🎉🎉 I hit it just after the new year!
of course, the cops made absolutely no note of the light being shot out by them and didn't think to maybe report it to the city, typical...
Great find on your part and good resolution of a scary story. I also went through tear gas training when I was in the military many years ago. I surprised it persisted in the light for so long. As you mentioned not fun, especially for you and the other guy because you were unaware of the cause.
I'm surprised they didn't inform you of that, here in Vegas our police have to inform the power company whenever they damage something like a light or power pole. What also surprises me is that this third party company that disposed of the lighting device did NOT send it in to be analyzed (something that is, also, required here in Vegas regardless of if you know what the substance is or not)
But different rules and policies for different areas.
I remember going to the gas hut in Cornwallis for gas training back in 82. Good old boot camp. Memories.
Thanks for sharing. Recently found your vids and been working thru them. This story is great because it shows your dedication to what you do and others safety. Too many places stuff happens and as soon as it's clear and over it's gone and a few people shrug and go on with life. So many times things get brought up to great people that live and breathe what they do or are passionate about and it still goes nowhere. Great this even though rate situation was actually followed through and discussion a bottom up then top down fashion.
I'll bet the other officers were like thanks for that as they got cs rain
This story was interesting, thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the comment! 👊
That’s an incredible story.. I was really starting to worry, I have 3 multi volt led street lights in my garage. Glad you guys were okay.
That’s a crazy story man !! Definitely not all in a days work, yet, somehow it’s all in a days work. Stay safe this weekend if u get called out !!!!
Who does your company purchase their led fixtures and brackets from? I’d like to have one for my property.
Not your typical day thats for sure. I was thinking maybe pepper ball (powdered mace, which sound like what the farret round is filled with.) So very intresting.
At my job I work as a flagger and I have done first aid. One job I was working first aid and they needed someone to sit in a room and monitor that tagged out lines were not interfered with. I mean where electricians had set power off and marked it. People had turned it back on and someone had been hurt. So I did that for a few weeks. For about a week there was one constantly tagged out line that I absolutely refused to let any subcontractors turn back on without the associated tag. That went on for weeks. I remember one especially angry supervisor yelling at me almost spitting in my face as he ranted out it. I ended up deescalating the situation but it was dicey for a bit. About week four a guy came in with the correct tag and set the line active again. I told him all about the various people getting upset and the one guy who lost his cool about it. The guy went white as sheet and swallowed a few times. After about a minute he asked me if i could write it up and give details with witnesses about every incident etc.
I wrote it up and passed it to him via email. Later the next day I was called away to the main trailer for a safety meeting. I was asked to detail my job, my duties on site, and pretty much everything I had been doing. They wanted to see my various tickets and qualifications. I had noticed worksafe was there and so was my company rep. I worked for a temp agency. After about an hour of people being very serious and repeated questioning by various officials I was told I would be notified about anything relevant I needed to know. I found out later it was actually critically important that I followed the instructions I had been given. I also found out I should never have been put in that situation and it required 24/7 supervision by someone who had at least some training. I imagine some people got in a lot of trouble for what happened. I never worked on or around such stuff but that incident where I sat by myself in room where my job was to say no to anyone without a tag who wanted to turn power on was very boring but by following the procedures I had been given I hope it saved someone from injury.
Good for you brother, saved someone’s life from idiot management that doesn’t understand the work.
linemen are the unsung heroes of the 21st century thanks for keeping our society moving
Crazy story!! Thanks for sharing 👍
Been working in the industry 17 years and the worst job ive have attended was a failure of a 275kV current transformer. The substation is local to my area and when the CT failed there was reports of a loud explosion and fireball in the sky on the local facebook group. When i attended the site afterwards the whole substation bay including VT, CT's, isolators and Circuit breaker had damage and signs of burnt oil on the insulators. We found a dead rabbit about 30m away from the explosion. On the plus side 4 weeks before the equipment failure i was involved in a major maintenance on the circuit breaker and although it was substantially damaged it tripped as it should of done to clear the fault. It was the last time it ever operated and the entire bay was ripped out and replaced due to the extensive damage. It does make you realise that when one of these pieces of equipment fails it normally ends in a spectacular failure.
They incinerated the lamp without knowing what the substance was on there? So, they released an unknown chemical compound into the atmosphere without knowing what it is? That seems rather unsafe. I'm glad it worked out for you. But, there are chemicals out there that can have long term health consequences that might not show up for days, weeks, or even years.
I did have se of the same concerns, but from my understanding; In order to test the substance, they would have to have something to go by. They could do specific tests to see if it matched chemical compound for those particulars. An example would be a "dope" test. If the chemical turns blue then it's a positive match... If it doesn't, it simply means it's not that particular substance and nothing more.
Same goes for getting checked out at a hospital. If there are no sypmtoms (or they are gone) and vitals are good. They wouldn't have much to by. Generic blood tests included.
The high heat of the incineration would release negligible amounts of toxic substances as well.
That being said, I do believe testing of an unknown substance is possible, but not something that comes cheap or only done in circumstances that involved dire consequences.
Again, this is only my limited understanding of the possibilities after being involved in some discussions around the incident
@@Bobsdecline Yes, testing can be done on an unknown substance to determine the chemical makeup and match that to a known substance. But, it has to be done in a lab on very expensive equipment by highly educated people, so not cheap.
Anyway, glad you're OK and you solved the mystery,
@@BryanTorok certainly a hazmat should have a basic nmr or spectroscopy...
Proper incineration is probably the safest method though.
That bird was waiting for a cooked meal!
Scary stuff! Always look for unknown causes that leads to troubles down the road.
My dog ran a squirrel up a poll, and it bridged the gap between the transformer.... It was definitely a sight to behold as a young child. Taught me to not mess with high voltage electricity! Lol
Those law enforcement officers should be held accountable for not reporting what they shot the light with, as well as not reporting the incident to the utility company. That was highly irresponsible of them.
By the way, can the utility sue the government for damages now?
That is an amazing story! 👊Local 1 retired hiding from the cold in central Florida.
That's nuts. Everything you were describing fit either CS powder or severe radiation but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how either would have contaminated and broken the light.
A tree limb, about 2ft across at the fat end fell across a 3ph primary, pinning the wires to the ground. Line workers made it safe and arborists were called in. As they were cutting, a loud CRACK as 100+lbs of wood was catapulted into the sky. Another hazard of "high tension" wire to beware of.
firstly i thought you'll talk about that lamps that contain mercury, but this story is way more interesting
Wow, everday in the trade really is different! Can't wait to become a lineman!
If the police would have just called and said they shot out the light it probably would have been known from the get go lol
2:42 whose lights would go real bright / real dim? Do they still use incandescent bulbs in Canada? In the US, they mostly have been phased out entirely. A CFL would do other wonky things from low/high voltage. It probably wouldn't even turn on, or it might just go pop. (Or it might even just show as normal brightness if it regulated the input voltage well.)
What’s the vactor truck for in the start for? Hydro digging?
Had to wait to change a broke pole for the bomb squad to clear the scene. When FD responded to the accident, they found what turned out to be a dummy grenade in the ditch.
I have pictures of our trucks parked next to the US Air Force EOD truck (lived in a town with an Air Force base so they were our bomb squad)
That's an interesting one! They figure it came out of the vehicle involved in the accident?
If I recall, they determined it was just a coincidence and it had probably been there for a while., but it was on a rural highway so there wasn't a lot of pedestrian traffic in the ditch to find it lol
I know it's winter. But what you described before you said what it was I was thinking giant hogweed. How is it working after our during an ice storm? Nice video knowing it's half the battle.
Wondering what province, month and year did the incident with the CS grenade happen? tks
You would think local authorities wouldeve told you guys "hey btw your light is basically pepper sprayed"
Huh, it's like hush hush privileges cover everything. In the USA, a lawsuit could easily have happened
all the tools and like the spot light does the company pay for or reimburse you or is it like a mechanic you buy your own tools for the job? obviously the truck belongs to the company just curious on the nice tools
Shit, here I was worried the light was radioactive or something. Quite the story!
Im a residential specialist in the bay area of california. I had a customer with randomly tripping arc fault breakers. It would happen over different circuits. So we replaced the sub-panel, re-spliced the circuit. Right before i was about to have her sign for a 20k rewire on her house i said you should have the utility out to check their splice box and behind her meter. They found it. It was a burning meter leg on her panel. Saved her a ton of money and mud in my face.
Nice job AARON
So glad it wasn't radioactive
Oh that good ole CS burn. I was thinking it was pepper balls but CS makes sense. It's surprising how little CS you need to be exposed to for that burn to start. Hey at least it wasn't something worse.
As soon as you showed the picture, and how his skin burned I knew it was CS, or pepper spray, pepper ball of some kind. The reason I know is my wife had some mace in the center console of our car this car center console is very small about 8" deep and 6" square. She had it jammed with lot of stuff one day I go to clean it out and notice some dried red stuff and some liquid also gets on my fingers. I go to rub my face and it starts to burn that causes me to rub more gets in my eye and wow did it burn then I realized what happened. The center console was jammed with so much stuff closing the lid had caused the mace to spray in there, or leak somehow got on everything I had to wash my eyes, put gloves on to remove everything else. Then carefully wash everything down ended up using denatured Alcohol to clean out the plastic get rid of all the mace.
Dust on the light was OC pepper dust from a sublethal weapon that generally cops use. The thing that launches it looks like a giant nerf gun. 😅😅😅 glad you made it ok though. 🤔
This was a really interesting story!
Spoiler alert below!
Seems like a really dumb idea to use the powdered CS grenade to take out the light. Surely the powder drifted down onto them. It was expensive compared to a shotgun shell (but quieter, which must be why they chose it).
With all their equipment, they didn't have a regular rubber bullet? Wild.
Best story ever! wow
That was a good one!
great story.
OK I remember hearing about that crow/squirrel call when it came in; it was one of those we overheard the person repeating what the caller was saying and all of us were listening cuz it sounded wild moments 🤣😂
You company should have been all over this because your safety could have been at risk.
I was sent to help pump out a pit that a transformer blew up in. An police officer stop and said they think there is an knife used to stab someone is in the pit. Well we had to call them back because we found an knife.
"Down in the states" Hahaha, even you Canadians refer to the US as that! lol I had suspicions that it was going to be capsaicin related...
Pink powder residue sounds a lot like pepperball or some sort of household deterrent like byrna etc
Hey buddy what safety/sunglasses are you wearing in this video? They look nice and comfortable.
Hey Andrew! Those ones are the Milwaukee anti fog. We added em to our stores list after having trouble with safety glasses fogging up when masking was required.
They're very comfortable and the anti fog works really well! The biggest complaint from our guys is that the coating seems to scratch easier, but with proper care it hasn't been an issue for myself. Most of our guys made the switch over our uvex