View Full Version : Man killed by lightning in hammock
Sad news, hitting close to home - a man was killed this weekend while camping in his hammock in a reservoir close to me:
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1151216876262020.xml&coll=1
and
http://www.c-n.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060625/NEWS/606250323
and
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060625/NEWS03/606250485/1007
It's really creepy for me to hear about as I've camped at Round Valley Reservoir. As well, I just returned from section hiking in NJ and hammocked several times on the ridges and treelines. We have a stalled weather front bearing thunderstorms right now, and this is what this poor guy got stuck in, and I experienced this week on my hike.
I thought the conventional wisdom was that lightning, while dangerous to hammockers, was likely to travel through a tree to ground, bypassing the hammocker?
At any rate this is alarming news but I put it into the context of the likelihood that you are more likely to get killed in the Garden State driving to your hike dropoff.
peter_pan
06-25-2006, 13:48
I wonder how prominent the trees were and their proximity to the waters edge...
Bless him and his family.
Pan
Catfish John,
You advised, “I thought the conventional wisdom was that lightning, while dangerous to hammockers, was likely to travel through a tree to ground, bypassing the hammocker?”
The immediate area in which I live is seasonally lightening prone. Lightening developed the recurring annoyance of blowing up my well pumps. One night, about 3 am, during a storm all the lights suddenly went “ON.” It took some work to get them turned back off.
I told an electrician about this and he said, “Yep, electricity does some strange things.” He suggested burying several ground rods near one another. I did, and problems with lightening seem to have stopped.
I haven’t any idea how to avoid being struck by lightening laying in a hammock. It would theoretically have occurred if he had been on the ground over the roots between the same two trees.
I moved from New Jersey, not for that reason, but if it keeps happening give up hammocks or move. ; ) Statistically, the likelihood of this incident recurring can’t be all that significant.
Hana_Hanger
06-25-2006, 15:50
Thank you for sharing this news with all of us.
Hopefully it will make us choose our campsites with forethought to what could happen, and pick our spots carefully.
Although this could happen to anyone whether in a hammock or tent.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.
I wonder how prominent the trees were and their proximity to the waters edge...
Bless him and his family.
Pan
The trees there go quite close to the water's edge (about twenty feet in places), and I'm guessing he might have set up near the water to enjoy the sound of the water lapping and the breeze. The trees are pretty dense, and I don't know but will ask how high the struck tree was in relation to others around them.
It really chills me because I set up on a ridge treeline overlooking a valley two nights ago. The view and breezes were incredible but I wonder if I was in harms way. There were scattered T-storms that night.
All in all though, still more danger in driving to the store.
I haven’t any idea how to avoid being struck by lightening laying in a hammock. It would theoretically have occurred if he had been on the ground over the roots between the same two trees.
I agree - I don't think he could have had any factor in attracting the lightning. Nothing in the hammock is metal, and most likely no personal gear in his hammock was significantly metallic. It must have been just poor luck. As Peter Pan points out, perhaps one of the trees he tied to was higher than the others which would have increased the likelihood of a strike.
It is a huge body of water, and he may have been hammocked on the edge of the treeline. The campsites are all on the lakefront. I could imagine the lightning striking down toward the lake body, and then finding earth at the shoreline. Perhaps a take home lesson here is to have a good look at the height of the trees we tie to, and to not set up on the edge of a treeline.
I've often wondered if I would burn out like the filiament of a light bulb. I tend to pick low trees away from ridges and forrest edges
Ramble~On
06-25-2006, 17:58
I'm sorry to hear about this...and it is the first incident that I am aware of where someone has been killed by lightning while sleeping in a hammock.
I read through each of the articles and noticed in one where it was mentioned that the lightning struck the tree, went into the ground and then bounced up to hit the man in the hammock....I am unsure how they could tell this...
All of the articles note the severity of the storms that passed through this area. The lake is "big" as it is noted that it is 3 miles across at it's widest and it is also noted that the trees and campsites are in close proximity to the waters edge....much like a lone tree or stand of trees in the middle of a field would be ....the lakes flat surface would make these trees at waters edge prime for lightning strike.
This could happen to anyone and I think that this is simply a case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time... Had I been there that day it could easily have been me. If I am lucky enough to die in my sleep....while outdoors doing something that I enjoy......In my opinion it would be an ideal way to go.
I feel for this man's family....no loss is ever easy...
If this ever happens to me I hope my friends and family can find peace in the fact that I died doing what I love, more than likely "instantly" and in my sleep.
I have a fear of lightning....I guess fear is the right word....I like to camp at ridgeline, on top of balds...places that I should be aware of lightning...many times I have had long, tense periods inside a tent or a hammock while lightning flashed and cracked around me..Close around me. It makes for quite a pucker factor. What looks like the ideal campsite when the sky is blue and cloudless....isn't always so great later in the night with lightning flashing all around. I live in the mountains of North Carolina and gave up on weather reports and predictions long ago...even with accurate weather forecasting I would still spend my time in the "backcounrty"...So I guess if the weather is gonna get me that's the way it is.
Ramble~On
06-25-2006, 18:02
guess I should proofread my stuff before I post it huh ?
Frolicking Dinosaurs
06-25-2006, 18:21
My sympathies to this man's loved ones.
As other have noted, hammockers are very rarely struck by lightening, but now we know it can happen under the proper conditions. I do hope the media will report a bit more about the terrain, proximity to the water, and the stand of trees so that the hammocking community can learn what it might be wise to avoid. Some of my best friends on this board are burritos.
I'll try to get over there next weekend and have a look at the site for specifics on the tree sizes relative to others around them, distance to the treeline, water, etc.
I don't think it's necessary to be hit by a direct strike in order to fibrillate some ones heart. Sometimes a drop to the ground will restore a regular rhythm but it usually requires requires someone to do CPR until help arrives. If lightning chose his trees I don't think that it would have mattered if he was on the ground or hanging between the trees. Anything can become a conductor if the voltage is high enough. IIRC air only insulates to about 1 inch per 100,000 volts. You are going to be hurt, probably severely , if a strike happens anywhere nearby. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family. I'm sure that he had no idea what happened.
Brian
T-BACK
Maybe glass insulators separating the trees from the hammock will help.
Just Jeff
06-26-2006, 03:42
Maybe glass insulators separating the trees from the hammock will help.
I'll start wearing a helmet in my car and knee pads when I walk down the stairs before I worry about hammocking in lightning storms. :)
I'll do the same thing tenters do - don't be under the highest tree, up on a ridgeline, etc - and if it's my time, well, at least I was in the woods when it happened. Relaxing in my hammock. :-?
Follow up article seems to indicate that Allen Emer did set up in a higher spot close to the water on the treeline.
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1151296127252140.xml&coll=1
As others have pointed out, we should use the same common sense we would use in tents in anticipation of bad weather.
Moon Monster
06-26-2006, 12:27
Do most hangers here prefer larger and therefore taller trees? If so, why?
I'm new to hanging. I've so far only used my stock Hennessey hugger straps, which I've found very short. I can only get them twice around on trees no bigger than my thigh. So, in my very few nights in a hammock so far, my host trees have been quite a bit shorter than their neighbors, on average. I'm thinking of getting loinger straps, but I still wouldn't have thought about hanging on the tallest trees around.
Before or even in the wake of this tragic story, what's your convention on the size of tree selection?
SGT Rock
06-26-2006, 12:36
I don't like the big trees, avoid them when I can.
Just Jeff
06-26-2006, 12:43
It's easier to tie to small trees, so that's what I usually look for. If big trees are all that's available in a good site, I'll check to see if they're the biggest ones. I'll still tie to them sometimes if I think there's not much chance of a storm and it's in a good site, but I generally like to tie to smaller trees when I can.
peter_pan
06-26-2006, 13:13
Echo the smaller tree preference...
Pan
smaller trees _but_ be selective there too - I once tied off to a 5 inch magnolia tree in the Sipsey (sandy soil mostly) started raining hard (lubricating the soil) and blowing hard and the dang tree came down almost on top of me - moral of the story is don't use a magnolia under eight inches if in sandy soil
I'm relatively new to hammock hanging. So far my preference is trees that I can wrap the straps around with some overlap space left (with the stock HH straps) so that I can tie the figure 8 lashing easily. I realized this week on my section hike that I haven't figured out the right lashing technique when the tree is thicker than the straps are long - I can't seem to figure out how to do the figure 8 properly when there is no gap to thread the rope through.
Now that I'm home, I'll look around on WB and the web for tips. Any tips from you folks are appreciated.
:( so sad to hear this:cool: neo
http://independent.gmnews.com/News/2001/1003/Front_Page/022.html
Another article, however, unrelated to his death.