Lighting can cook electronic equipment

Electrical storms and electronic equipment do not mix.

Carson City's Richard Doede found out the hard way on Wednesday. So did Carson City firefighters.

Doede, who lives on South Edmonds, said a bolt of lighting hit his tree in the back yard, wreaking havoc on electronic equipment throughout the house.

"It hit in our back yard about 30 feet from our family room," he said. "We were sitting watching TV and all of a sudden no TV. It (also) took out the phone."

While Doede's television recovered, the phone, the hot tub and computer did not.

"We had a pretty good TV before. Now we have a red and green stripe on the screen."

Doede said the bolt took out a chunk of the tree and left a scar in the lawn where it went underground.

"There is a one-foot place where it looks like someone took a spade to it," he said.

He said his wife had turned the computer off, but then turned it back on before lightning struck.

"We've got a surge protector, but with a strike that close a surge protector as big as a house won't help you."

Doede, who is retired, says it was lucky that no one was hurt in the strike.

"This is as close as I've ever been to one," he said of the bolt. "We have a little dog that has free access to the back yard. Luckily he was inside with us."

Carson City Fire Chief Lou Buckley said it is wise to turn off electronic equipment during a lightning storm.

"We had a computer fried out at Station 3," he said. "The guys went out on an alarm and left the machine on."

Buckley said he has seen lightning blast electrical outlets.

"I've seen houses that were hit by lightning and it would go through the wiring and blow the sockets right out of the walls," he said.

According to the National Lightning Safety Institute, things to avoid during a lightning storm include:

- Using a telephone

- Taking a shower

- Washing hands

- Doing dishes

- Any contact with conductive surfaces with exposure to the outside such as metal door or window frames, electrical wiring, telephone wiring, cable TV wiring, plumbing etc.

When outdoors, people should avoid being near:

- High places and open fields

- Isolated trees

- Unprotected gazebos

- Rain or picnic shelters

- Baseball dugouts

- Communications towers

- Flagpoles

- Light poles

- Bleachers (metal or wood)

- Metal fences

- Convertibles

- Golf carts

- Water