Recent lightning striking 911 facilities in Cleveland, Ohio and Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania have illustrated the need for call centers to look at technology that will protect their systems and the people working at their facilities.

 

With a good prevention system in place, experts say, contact centers like 911 emergency centers can dispatch calls even amidst severe thunderstorms.

Lightning consultant Peter Carpenter, of Lightning Eliminators and Consultants in Boulder Colorado, commented in response to this growing need recently in a news release highlighting a need for superior lightning protection.

 

Traditional lightning protection, as required by the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA), is required to prevent fires, but does little or nothing to protect from the EMP- like energy that is emitted from a lightning bolt.

 

And it is this EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) energy that disables a 911 centers' sensitive communication systems that are essential for taking, recording, and dispatching calls.

In his 19 years as a lightning consultant, Carpenter has seen call centers going offline because of a lightning strike and according to him, the solution for the problem is LEC lightning prevention systems, which come with a “No-Strike- Warranty”.

 

A "No-Strike-Warranty lets our clients know that the lighting prevention systems we install, will maximize system reliability," Carpenter noted.

 

 

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Narayan Bhat is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.