Lightening Strikes NRHS: God’s Will or Negligence?

Written By: Talk of the Sound News

NRHS Spire hit by lighteningSurely someone in the school district knows that Benjamin Franklin conceived of something called a lightening rod in 1749? So, can someone please explain how the last undamaged tower at New Rochelle High School was destroyed by a lightening strike? A bolt that sparked a fire that resulted in extensive water damage as the New Rochelle Fire Department struggled to extinguish the fire. The problem with lightening rods is that if they are not spread out across the top of a structure and properly grounded they not only don’t work but the terminals ATTRACT lightening since they are metal and typically at the highest point in the area. So, are New Rochelle taxpayers once again being asked to foot the bill for an entirely avoidable incident? Was the terminal on top of the spire properly grounded? If not, why not? And who was responsible for checking this? It is not as if the District had no warning that the sort of thing could happen. The other tower at New Rochelle High School is currently shrouded in scaffolding and netting to repair damage to that tower caused by a lightening strike last year. It should never have happened once but the District owes the people of New Rochelle some answers as to why the ground wires on the South Tower terminal were not triple-checked after the North Tower was hit a year ago. Beyond the cost to the District, there appears to be a "slight" safety issue at play here. What would have happened to the 3,000 students and their teachers who filled the school most days had lightening caused a very loud explosion coupled with a fire during the middle of a school day?
NRHSFIre Department pours it on DSC_0037Water damage from top to bottom

 

One thought on “Lightening Strikes NRHS: God’s Will or Negligence?”

  1. Cameras & the Lightening Rod
    What makes the City spend money on monitoring students and staff while saving on a lightening rod!

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