February 17, 2006
Actually, Con Ed Did Cause the Sidewalk to Electrocute a Dog
Hold on a moment: Con Edison, our city's electricity utility, who had originally blamed the Department of Transportation for the the stray voltage that caused a dog to be fatally electrocuted on a Brooklyn sidewalk, now admits it was at fault. Con Ed's claim that the DoT removed a street lamp years ago without telling them didn't hold when it turned out the city did contact them about turning off the power line. Mayor Bloomberg said, "One of the things about Con Ed, which is a wonderful company and they have good billing facilities, if there had been, they would have billed us." Oh, snap! Naturally, Danny Kapilian, whose dog died earlier this week, is looking for a lawyer and is angry at Con Ed:
"I never cease to be amazed when it comes to the way that government and bureaucracies fail to communicate properly, the end result of which puts the public at risk. It doesn't ease my pain — my dog has still died. But I appreciate that this has come to light."What happened to the work that Con Ed was supposed to do after Jodie Lane's death? Have they really been working on getting rid of the "hot zones"? It's been two years (almost one and a half since the settlement) - we know the city is big, but especially with winter weather, you'd think this would be more of a priority, versus finding ways to blame others.
And reader lia suggests that dog owners whose dogs refuse to wear boots check out Musher's Secret.
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So, when I see steam rising off the manhole covers on my block, I should assume they're hot? I mean -electric hot?
Yesterday's dog electrocution story described it happening in Park Slope, but then says it occurred on 3rd St. and 3rd Ave. I live on 5th Ave. and usually feel ridiculous telling people I live in P/S and normally follow up with the quick caveat "well, the border of P/S and Gowanus." 3rd St. and 3rd Ave., however, is so deep in Gowanus proper that it's only a few yards from the canal itself.
Concerned Pedestrian- They might be hot, but not electric hot. Steam rising is usually caused by a steam leak or slow leak in a water main dripping down onto a superheated steam pipe and flashing into steam itself. Stray electricity is so dangerous precisely because it does not give off similar warning signs.
Just so it's clear, "Musher's Secret" balm for dog paws, would not provide any kind of electrical insulation ability (in my opinion, based on it's ingredients)
Good for keeping the paw pads soft and healthy.. but rubber booties would provide the more-likely reduction of electrical hazards.
The creepy thing about this whole incident, is this was a regular concrete sidewalk slab that became energized.. and there are literally thousands upon thousands of these "under-sidewalk" conduits supplying power to houses, businesses, lamposts, etc.
Everyone must "rubber-up" at all times, for maximum safety.
I said it before and I'll say it again... electrocute all the children of Con Ed management and force those parents to watch.
Maybe then they'll learn to do their job without potentially killing pets and/or people!
joe's comments are pretty capricious. Maybe you should try working for utility that works as hard as it tries to take care of the world's greatest and important customers in the world. Managing the aging infrastructure on a daily basis and recognizing the effects from changes of weather, environmental effects, and other related activities can only be done real time or instantaneously.
To add, these incidents are not isolated to NYC also:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7065850/
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/01/10/city_takes_blame_in_dogs_electrocution/
Could NYC work together to create a Task Force with say the DOT much like Boston?
The electrified-manhole problem is not going to be fixed within the next several years. Much of New York's "secondary distribution" system (the last electricity distrbution stage, 120V going to customers) was installed 50+ years ago, and has now been found to randomly cause these "energized structures" incidents as it ages.
The only real solution is total replacement of the secondary. This has been planned and budgeted, but will take decades. Stay off those manholes and vaults, folks.