New Brunswick teens climb 200-foot power line, police called
Digital Reporter
Friday, July 29, 2016, 12:59 PM - Police were contacted after NB Power officials found a video online showing two New Brunswick teens climbing a transmission tower in Saint John.
The high-powered 60-metre-tall (197 ft) tower is capable of carrying 69,000 to 345,000 volts, CBC reports. Footage of the teens scaling the structure located near Dominion Park Beach has surfaced on Facebook (watch below).
The director of health and safety for NB Power Duff Boyd told CBC his heart sank when he first viewed the video.
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The height of the tower is scary enough, but the risk of being electrocuted is also quite high, Boyd explains.
"Electricity is kind of insidious in that high potential lines," Boyd told CBC. "You can't see it, hear it, smell it, taste it, but it can find you."
The electrical current on transmission towers can jump through the air and pass through your body without ever touching a wire. #besafe
— NB Power (@NB_Power) July 28, 2016
At one point in the video, one of the boys can be seen dangling off the side of the tower with only one hand amid windy conditions. Neither of the two appear to be wearing safety harnesses.
Boyd recalled a similar situation that occurred this past June, where two teens suffered serious burns while climbing a power tower in Powell River, B.C. This past week, a 21-year-old man was killed in Riviere-du-Loup, Que. while scaling a hydro pole.
Saint John Police have been contacted by NB Power officials about the incident.
"This has to be communicated in such a way that the public understands how dangerous an activity it is," Boyd told CBC. "Don't do it is the short answer."
Never climb utility poles, transmission towers or fences around substations. #besafe pic.twitter.com/zL6gGBwcRh
— NB Power (@NB_Power) July 28, 2016
SOURCE: CBC
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