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Bills pile up after lightning strikes sheriff's office
Feb 14, 2012 (The Graham Leader - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Young County commissioners learned Monday just how expensive a lightning strike can be.
During a regular meeting of commissioners court, County Auditor Cheryl Roberts told commissioners a lightning strike that hit the Young County Law Enforcement Center on Jan. 24 caused more than $100,000 in damages.
Sheriff Bryan Walls said he was called in late that Tuesday night because dispatchers were unable to communicate with officers in the field.
"The phones and radios were completely out," Walls said. "On that night, we had to get a hand-held radio and go back and forth. It was such a direct hit, it went through all the filters and everything."
At the dispatch station, virtually everything stopped working at once. Phone lines in and out of the sheriff's office went silent, and the dispatch computer that monitors everything going on and serves as the communications system went blank.
"It blew the phones up," Walls said. "We finally got some phones up where we had one line working. For probably two to three hours, we were without phones, but 9-1-1 was always working."
Walls said after looking for a resolution for several hours, a dispatcher plugged an old phone into the wall, and it worked. The electrical shock did not damage the phone lines but blew the actual phones up.
When dawn broke on Jan. 25, the severity of the damage began to be seen. Five security cameras in the jail were blown out, the gate into the jail was not working, several touch computer screens were destroyed and even electrical outlets were burned out. Walls said the biggest surprise he saw was a four-foot long piece of metal on the roof of the jail. The metal had burned so hot that it was twisted and blackened.
Despite the damage, Walls said there was never a risk in the jail, the jailers just had to work harder to monitor inmates.
The good news for Young County is the cost will be borne primarily by the county's insurance company.
"I talked to the insurance adjustor, and he said, 'Order the parts, get it fixed and send the bill to me,'" Roberts said.
Roberts said as of Monday, the bills are already more than $74,000, and more bills are expected in.
County IT Director Eric Steadham said the electrical surge due to the lightning strike caused damage throughout the building.
"They sustained a pretty big shot," Steadham said. "It melted out quite a bit."
Steadham said no computers were damaged but several monitors were destroyed.
Walls said the final extent of the damage is probably not known yet. While the repairs are under way, Walls said he expects more damage to be found.
"The problem was every time they'd come up here, they would find another piece that melted," Walls said. "They'd replace one circuit board and find another circuit board that was blown up."
Slowly but surely, the system is returning to normal.
"The new gate is up, the phones are up and one dispatch console is up," Walls said. "It's kind of put together by pieces, but it is working."
The county will only be out $1,000 for the insurance deductible, and Walls said he hopes it never happens again.
"How often do you get a direct lightning hit?" he asked. "It was one in a million."
___ (c)2012 The Graham Leader (Graham, Texas) Visit The Graham Leader (Graham,
Texas) at grahamleader.com Distributed by MCT Information Services
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