[Sca-cooks] lightning

[Stefan li Rous]

Huette commented:
> Isn't that what a surge protector is for?
> Although perhaps the voltage of lightning is
> too much for the standard surge protector.
Yes, as others have stated, the surge protector may or may not help. It 
probably depends upon how direct the strike was and numerous other 
factors.

But what do you do at an event and you have no place to plug that surge 
protector in?

Yes, lightning can strike at SCA events. At a Lilies War a number of 
years ago, Pavel's pavilion was struck and he and his family were 
inside it. I wish I had that report in the Florilegium. They had slight 
injuries but all recovered. Probably because the tent was wet and most 
of the current flowed down the outside of the tent. Perhaps that is a 
good reason to use wooden pavilion poles instead of steel. Or at least 
not to be holding onto them during a lightning storm. :-)

The following article is in the SCA-CAMPING section of the Florilegium. 
What, the Florilegium has stuff other than on food? :-)
lighning-msg      (11K)  3/30/00    Lightening precautions while 
camping.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/CAMPING/lightning-msg.html

The first part of the article states:
> At Gulf Wars last week, the decision was made by one of the marshals
> to stop the rapier melees because of an impending thunderstorm.
>
> When this decision was made, I heard many remarks from participants
> to the effect of, "What an idiot!  It wasn't even raining!  The storm 
> wasn't
> even overhead!  This guy is paranoid!"  etc.
>
> As a mundane safety professional and several year storm spotter for the
> city of Stillwater, these comments alarmed me, because to my mind,
> the marshal made the absolutely correct decision to cancel the melees
> when he did.
>
> So, because I care very much for the health and safety of my fellow
> SCAers, I thought this might be an appropriate time to conduct some
> lightning safety education.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****