MEC&F Expert Engineers : 08/24/17

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Hawk with snake in claws sparks Black Eagle fire in Montana, as it is roasted to death by the electric current following electric wire contact; Montana plans to sue the snake's estate for the damages


Black Eagle, MT

 Hawk with snake in claws sparks Black Eagle fire in Montana, as it is roasted to death by the electric current following electric wire contact.  Montana plans to sue the snake's estate for the damages

Karl Puckett, kpuckett@greatfallstribune.com 

August 23, 2017

Six area fire departments respond



(Photo: Kyra Vanisko)


Dave Lee, acting assistant chief of the Black Eagle Fire Department, says he has a pretty good idea of what caused a fire that burned 40 acres in Black Eagle Wednesday.

It wasn't lightning.

It wasn't farm equipment.

It wasn't arson.

It was a hungry hawk with dinner in its claws.

"A dead hawk was found burned and it had contacted the power lines," Lee said. "The amazing thing is it still had a small snake gripped in its talons."

It isn't unusual for birds and squirrels to cause fires, Lee said.

A bird catching a snake before meeting its fiery end is.

"It was just awesome," said firefighter Kyra Vanisko, who snapped a photo of the charred bird underneath a power pole. "I wasn't expecting to find a hawk with a snake in its claws still."

The bird was toast, but its talons survived, and they remained gripped around a foot-long bull snake even in death.

Because of its condition, Vanisko couldn't make out the species of hawk, which was about the size of small cat.

“He’s a crispy critter,” she said.

Power outages caused by animals and birds in Montana are not unusual, said Butch Larcombe, a spokesman for NorthWestern Energy.

"I have dealt with outages caused by squirrels, beavers, geese, raptors and even snakes," Larcombe said. "But this is my first experience with a hawk-snake combination."

During an outage in the Helena area about six years ago, a deer fawn was found in a power line after an outage, Larcombe said.


A fire off of Rainbow Dam Road burned 40 acres.Firefighters worried about its spread because of extremely dry conditions. (Photo: Kyra Vanisko)

NorthWestern suspects that an eagle may have snatched the fawn from the ground and dropped it on the power line while in flight.

The collision between bird and power line in Black Eagle didn't cause a power outage, but it did cause a fire, Lee said.

The hawk’s wing span may have contacted the power line, generating sparks that started the fire, he said.

Fire departments were notified of the fire at about 11 a.m.

It burned in grassland on property that once served as a landfill off of Rainbow Dam Road.

Firefighters from Black Eagle, Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana Air National Guard, Sand Coulee, Gore Hill and Ulm flew to the scene.


“It was running pretty good. It was spreading,” Lee said. “We got it stopped before it crossed the coulee and got into stubble.”


A third alarm was requested because of the great deal of smoke that was visible and the blaze was difficult to get to.

“There’s no public road and it was just in rough terrain, a lot of dips and coulees,” Lee said.

Five or six power poles were damaged.

With conditions so dry, the fire spread quickly.

If the fire would have continued past the coulee where it was stopped, it would have reached a power company switch yard, Lee said.

Cropduster pilot Steven Turner, 40, of Mexicali died after his 1975 Rockwell S-2R Thrush Commander plane crashed and burned in Imperial County, east of Calipatria, CA



Crop duster crashes into field east of Calipatria

Crystal Bedoya

August 22, 2017


CALIPATRIA, Calif. - UPDATE: The Imperial County Fire Department and Imperial County Sheriff's Office have confirmed the identity of the person who died in a small plane Tuesday.

 Steven Turner, 40, of Mexicali, died in the crash. Only one person was on board. Officials say Turner was working at the time, crop dusting.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are now investigating. No word yet on what caused the crash.

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A small plane went up in flames after crashing into an agricultural field in Imperial County on Tuesday around noon. Authorities are still investigating the incident.

Imperial County and Calipatria firefighters, as well as paramedics, responded to the field located between the Yocum and Butters Roads east of Calipatria. According to authorities, the incident was reported by a person who was near the area.

Fire Marshal Battalion Angel Morales said the person reporting the incident said there was no explosion or smoke before the plane crashed.

So far authorities have not confirmed whether the pilot died at the time of impact or whether there were other injured people. However, Sheriff patrols arrived as well as the forensic team.

The plane appeared to be a field-spraying aircraft, but authorities have not confirmed this because the investigation continues.

We will have more information as it becomes available.


Aircraft Description

Serial Number 5054R Status Valid
Manufacturer Name ROCKWELL INTERNATIONAL Certificate Issue Date 01/25/2016
Model S-2R Expiration Date 01/31/2019
Type Aircraft Fixed Wing Single-Engine Type Engine Turbo-prop
Pending Number Change None Dealer No
Date Change Authorized None Mode S Code (base 8 / oct) 51442022
MFR Year 1975 Mode S Code (base 16 / hex) A64412
Type Registration Corporation Fractional Owner NO

Registered Owner

Name BANK OF UTAH TRUSTEE
Street 200 E SOUTH TEMPLE STE 210
   
City SALT LAKE CITY State UTAH
County SALT LAKE Zip Code 84111-1346
Country UNITED STATES

Airworthiness

Engine Manufacturer WRIGHT Classification Restricted
Engine Model C7BA SERIES Category Agriculture and Pest Control
A/W Date 08/07/1975  






Date: 22-AUG-2017
Time: 12:00 LT
Type:
Rockwell S-2R Thrush Commander
Owner/operator: Private
Registration: N5022X
C/n / msn: 5054R
Fatalities: Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Other fatalities: 0
Airplane damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location: Imperial County, east of Calipatria, CA - United States of America
Phase: Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature: Agricultural
Departure airport:

Destination airport:

Narrative:
The cropduster plane crashed under unknown circumstances and was destroyed by fire. The pilot died in the crash.

Sources:
http://www.kyma.com/news/crop-duster-crash-into-field-east-of-calipatria/609662580
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Butters+Rd+%26+E+Yocum+Rd,+Calipatria,+CA+92233/@33.1119131,-115.3716174,16z/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x80d749515ceb21d7:0xcf8fa9b22ae963e?hl=en-us
FAA
http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=N5022X

Employee dies after he was crushed by tractor on Lamèque cranberry farm at Fruit-Can Ltee in Chiasson Office, N.B.














Employee dies in accident on Lamèque cranberry farm
Death in workplace accident occurred Monday, provincial agency says

By Elizabeth Fraser, CBC News 

August 23, 2017



A workplace accident has claimed the life of a male employee of a cranberry farm in northern New Brunswick.

The employee died Monday at around 9 a.m. on Lamèque Island.

WorkSafeNB confirmed the death but would not provide details such as the age or hometown of the person who died.

The incident in the community of Chiasson Office involved a tractor, said Beverly Stears of WorkSafeNB.

The employee was transported to the Tracadie-Sheila hospital, where he died, Stears said.


==============


WorkSafeNB has confirmed to Global News that a man in his 40s died following a workplace accident near Lameque, N.B., on Tuesday.

According to public relations manager Beverly Stears, the accident occurred at Fruit-Can Ltee in Chiasson Office, N.B.

In an emailed statement, she said the incident occurred at about 9 a.m. and involved a tractor.

The worker was transported to the Tracadie hospital where he died, Stears said.
An investigation has been launched and the coroner is also conducting an investigation parallel to that of WorkSafeNB.

Traffic control worker Gloria Taylor, 55, of Islip has died from the injuries she sustained when she was struck by a box truck driven by Dominick Sconzo, 19, of Selden that drifted over and crashed into her in Coram in Long Island, NY


  Dominick Sconzo, 19, of Selden, NY (Facebook)
 Dominick Sconzo, 19, of Selden (Facebook)


Construction worker hit by truck in Coram dies, cops say

Updated August 24, 2017 12:26 AM
By Newsday staff


A construction worker who was directing traffic at a work site in Coram earlier this month has died from injuries she suffered when she was struck by a box truck that drifted over and crashed into her, Suffolk police said.

Gloria Taylor, 55, of Islip, had been taken to Stony Brook University Hospital after the noon crash on Route 112 at Pauls Path on Aug. 14, police said.

Police said Taylor was holding a sign to slow or stop traffic on the east side of northbound Route 112, which was under construction, when a northbound 2000 Isuzu box truck driven by Dominick Sconzo, 19, of Selden, drifted to the right side of the road and struck her.
 
Sconzo was not hurt, and police did not cite him for traffic violations or charge him with a crime.

A safety check was conducted on the truck, and the crash is under investigation, police said.

========


A construction worker who was critically injured after being hit by a truck while conducting traffic at a New York work zone earlier this month has died, police said Wednesday night.

Suffolk County police say Gloria Taylor, 55, of Islip, died from her injuries she suffered when she was struck by the box truck that drifted over and crashed into her while she was directing traffic at the construction site in Coram on Aug. 14. Taylor had been taken to an area hospital in critical condition but ended up dying there, according to police.

Taylor was holding a sign to slow or stop traffic on the east side of northbound Route 12, which was under construction, when she was hit by the truck being driven by a 19-year-old man who was not injured, officials said. Cops did not ticket or charge the driver of the truck.

A safety check was conducted on the truck as police say they investigated.




==============



CORAM, NY – A construction worker was critically injured when she was struck by a box truck in Coram Monday afternoon, police said.

Gloria Taylor, of Islip, was holding a sign to slow or stop traffic on the east side of northbound Route 112, which was under construction, when a 2000 Isuzu box truck traveling northbound drifted to the right near Pauls Path and struck Taylor around noon. Taylor was transported to Stony Brook University Hospital where she is listed in critical condition.

The driver of the Isuzu, Dominick Sconzo, 19, of Selden, was not injured. A safety check was conducted on the truck, which is owned by Casa Piazza in Port Jefferson Station.

The investigation is continuing.

Two people were seriously injured by an 18-wheelr while trying to move their disabled car onto the side of Interstate 45 in Dallas, Texas






DALLAS, TEXAS- Two people were seriously hurt while trying to move their disabled car onto the side of Interstate 45 in Dallas.

It happened around 9 a.m. Monday in the southbound lanes of the interstate near Overton Road. The Dallas Sheriff’s Office said a man and a woman began having car trouble but there is no shoulder on that part of the road because of construction.

The two got out of their car and tried to push it out of the way. Most other cars moved to the left to go around them but one 18-wheeler did not notice them until it was too late.

The 18-wheeler was unable to slow down fast enough because of the wet roads and hit the back of the disabled vehicle. Fortunately, the driver was able to turn the truck enough so it was not a straight-on impact. The car spun around and ended up beneath the truck’s trailer, the sheriff’s office said.

The man was taken to the hospital in critical condition with a possible spinal fracture. The woman suffered only a possible broken arm and some cuts. The truck's driver was not hurt.


The accident caused traffic delays in the area for several hours. The 18-wheeler’s fuel spilled onto the interstate and a hazmat crew was called in to clean up with the mess