Lightning Alley is not just a catchy name for a street or the local bowling lanes. It's the name dubbed to a notorious region in central Florida that is in the heart of the most lightning-prone area in the entire country. And that lightning strike may come at the most inopportune time.
Not only can this force of nature cause bodily injury and severe damage to property, it also has the power to disrupt or destroy a police department's 9-1-1 communications system, which is intended to assist residents during an emergency. That's exactly what happened in the middle of one Florida storm.
When a Walmart in the city of Bushnell was relocated, the facility was donated to the county for their use. The Sumter County Sheriff's Department decided to open its new offices in this building, including housing its emergency communications there.
One serious problem was that the electrical system was built for a 1970's vintage department store, not a critical communications and public safety facility. During one lightning storm in particular, the 9-1-1 system failed, leaving county residents without police, fire or ambulance response.
Inspection of the existing electrical system showed that it was badly flawed, mainly due to improper connectors and poor bonding and grounding. The communications tower, for example, had its own independent and inadequate grounding. The emergency generators and building structure were all independently grounded, each with its own ground rod, exposing its poor design. The main grounding electrode consisted of a single galvanized steel rod from the 1970s, with very high resistance to earth.
A new system was designed and installed for under $40,000, a minimal cost considering the value of the equipment protected, and improved public safety it brought to the residents of Sumter County.
"To be effective, the entire grounding system needs to be properly designed, using listed connectors and corrosion resistant materials," said Dave Brender, National Program Manager for the Copper Development Association, CDA. "Lightning protection systems in particular must be well-grounded to work properly, and could make matters worse if they are not. Copper and its alloys are the most common materials in use for this application because they provide superior corrosion resistance and avoid oxidation problems at connections.
Copper is also easy to install and durable," Brender added.
Central Florida is not the only region in the U.S. affected by severe weather. Similar 9-1-1 and broadcast facilities are employed in areas all over the country where communications is critical and the chances for lightning strikes are quite high. Having proper copper-based grounding and bonding should be a top priority where an entire system can get crippled by lightning.
Related Stories
| Mar 14, 2012
Hearing to decide fate of unfinished Harmon in Las Vegas under way
The testimony began with CityCenter consulting engineer Chukwuma Ekwueme methodically showing photo after photo of parts of the Harmon, where he and his team had chipped away the concrete pillars and beams to examine the steel reinforcing bars inside.
| Mar 14, 2012
Firestone names 2012 Master Contractor Award Winners
Annual award acknowledges industry’s top roofing professionals.
| Mar 14, 2012
Plans for San Francisco's tallest building revamped
The glassy white high-rise would be 60 stories and 1,070 feet tall with an entrance at First and Mission streets.
| Mar 14, 2012
Hyatt joins Thornton Tomasetti as VP in Chicago
A forensic specialist, Hyatt has more than 10 years of experience performing investigations of structural failures throughout the U.S.
| Mar 14, 2012
Tsoi/Kobus and Centerbrook to design Jackson Laboratory facility in Farmington, Conn.
Building will house research into personalized, gene-based cancer screening and treatment.
| Mar 13, 2012
China's high-speed building boom
A 30-story hotel in Changsha went up in two weeks. Some question the safety in that, but the builder defends its methods.
| Mar 13, 2012
Commercial glazer Harmon expanding into Texas
Company expanding into the Texas market with a new office in Dallas and a satellite facility in Austin.
| Mar 13, 2012
Worker office space to drop below 100-sf in five years
The average for all companies for square feet per worker in 2017 will be 151 sf, compared to 176 sf, and 225 sf in 2010.
| Mar 12, 2012
Improving the performance of existing commercial buildings: the chemistry of sustainable construction
Retrofitting our existing commercial buildings is one of the key steps to overcoming the economic and environmental challenges we face.