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Darwin Awards
2006 Slush Pile

This item was recently submitted by a reader.
Should I include it in the archive?
Vote to tell me what *you* think!

Spanner Flash

2006 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

When I was a young volunteer fireman, I was called out to a house because an electrical short had started a small fire on the roof. The owner of the house had extinguished the fire with a garden hose before we arrived (nearly earning himself a Darwin Award) and I went up on the roof to make sure the fire was completely out.

The house's electrical wires ran through a hole in the roof covered by a shingle. I needed to check the hole for embers, but I was not sure if the burned, bare wires were live, or if the electrical breaker on the pole had tripped. Thinking I had come up with a great idea, I dropped an aluminium spanner wrench accros the two wires to check.

An ambulance a half mile away reported seeing a blinding flash in the sky. Ten minutes later, I was still seeing spots before my eyes.

Submitted on 10/07/2006

Submitted by: Anonymous
Reference: 1982-1983

Copyright © 2006 DarwinAwards.com

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James said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
Well done, sir! I suppose there wasn't any other way to "test" the wires, eh?! :-) Well, I suppose you found out, didn't you! Anyway this gave me a laugh! We don't get too many stories about people shorting out wires with tools "just to see" if they're live or not! This will wash as a PA! Thanks!

Jorge said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
Great job!

ORIGINAL:
I was a young volunteer fireman and was called out to a house where an electrical short had started a small fire on the roof. The owner of the house had put the fire out with a garden hose before we arrived (nearly earning him a Darwin award) so I went up on the roof to make sure that the fire was compleatly out.

The electrical wires ran down through a hole in the roof covered by a shingle. Needing to check the hole for any embers I was unsure if the electrical breaker on the pole had triped or if the burned, bare wires were live.

Thinking that I had a great idea, I dropped an aluminium spanner wrench accros the two wires to check.

Ten minutes later I was still seeing spots before my eyes and an amoulance that was half mile away reported seeing the blinding flash in the sky.

Submitted on 10/07/2006

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