The day started well with my employer driving the telescopic grab, the student driving the tractor and I was stationed on the trailer stacking the straw bales. We were near to filling the second trailer when My Boss called out of the cab to warn me to be carefull of the electric power cables that were running over head. I gave him a thumbs up and carried on packing in the bales.

A few moments later, as he reversed the telescopic grab, he got the grab hooked on the power cable. The dry straw still on the ground and the stubble sprung instantly in to flame as all for tyres on the telihandeler burst. At this point my employer jumped from the cab fearing that the fuel tank would likely explode if the fire reached it.

The Student displayed great presence of mind and drove the tractor and trailer, with my self on it, clear of the fire while calling the firebrigade on my mobile that had been in the cab. Once clear of the fire I climbed down and the three of us set about bashing out the fire with our coats.

At this point my employer came even closer to gaining him self a darwin award. He decided to unattach the grab from the still live power cable. fortunatly he picked up a long woodern stick and reached in through the open window of the cab with out touching any metal. Again he realised he had made a mistake as the grab started to decend on where he now stood. He dived out the way as we heard the sirons of the fire brigade and lept in to the cab driving it clear of the last of the flames.

He still lives and farms there. He went on record in the local paper saying 'that others should learn from his mistakes'.

I present the man that nearly earnt a darwin award 3 times in one day.

1. risking electricution by catching a telihandeler on the mains power lines 2. when that did not cause death he exited the cab, the fireperson who took our report of what happened confirmed that he would have died if he had climbed down the ladder instead of jumping 3a. should the stick have been wet or should he have touched any of the metal work of the telihandeler he would have died, again this is the veiw of the fire service as stated at the time. 3b. should he have pushed the controls a little harder or not have jumped when he did he would have been crushed by the telehandeler.

The fire officer at the time stated that he risked a 4th chance at death by getting back in the cab while the fire still burned, although I dissagree as we had put out the flames at this point and all that remained was smoldering stubble.

I feel that he deserves an honerable mention and hope that some one learns from his mistake.

Submitted on 08/15/2007

Submitted by:
Reference: Evesham Local Paper, will locate and supply on request

Copyright © 2007 DarwinAwards.com

Bruce said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
Since your boss warned you about the overhead wires it amazes me that he risked his life so many times after the fire started. I'll vote PA on this one for now. If you can provide details about the incident please do and we'll consider upgrading this to an HM. A readable photo of the article should do quite well if the article isn't online somewhere.

Chip said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
Absolutely one of the finest Personal Accounts we have received in quite a while! Thank you

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