Darwin nominee?? Man suffers burns after alleged copper thef

[rfhertz]

http://www.register-herald.com/todaysfr ... ft-attempt

September 17, 2010

Man suffers burns after alleged copper theft attempt
By Kara Van Pelt
Register-Herald Reporter Register-Herald Reporter Fri Sep 17, 2010, 12:02 AM EDT

A man suffered serious burns Thursday behind the locked gate of an Appalachian Power Co. substation in Raleigh County, officials said.

Firefighters said they found a man on his knees inside the substation on Pemberton Road with copper surrounding him.

When asked if the man was attempting to steal copper, Coal City Fire Chief Rodger Bell said, “If I had to take an educated guess, I would say yes. He was behind a locked gate with tools suggesting that is what he was doing.”

Coal City VFD safety officer John Lovelace, the first firefighter to arrive at the scene shortly after 2 p.m., said the man, whose name was not immediately available, had third-degree burns from the waist up and a hole in his left leg where it is believed the electrical current exited his body. Lovelace said the man was in critical condition.

The man was transported to Raleigh General Hospital, then flown to Cabell Huntington Hospital’s burn unit.

As a result of the incident, more than 600 APCO customers lost power. As of 8 p.m. Thursday, power had been restored to more than 430 customers, with the remanding outages expected to be restored later in the night.

Phil Moye, Appalachian Power corporate communications manager, said copper theft has become a growing problem in recent years.

“Copper theft really began to become commonplace around 2006,” he said. “At that time, the value of copper increased pretty dramatically. When the value of copper reached a certain point, we started seeing an increase of copper theft from substations and then distribution lines.”

Moye said that even when the value of copper decreases, thefts still take place.

“Once the activity started, it tends to increase or decrease based on the value of scrap copper, but even when the value of scrap copper has been relatively low, the activity still takes place,” he said. “Once it started, we haven’t really seen an end in sight to it.”

Moye said so far this year there has been more than 100 miles of copper from distribution lines stolen. He added there have already been three reports of death as a result of theft and hundreds of people have been seriously burned or injured.

According to Moye, the risk just isn’t worth it.

“Copper theft is one of the most dangerous things a person could attempt,” he said. “In most every case, the amount a person would be able to get in stolen copper may amount to a few hundred dollars. Those three individuals gave their life for it this year and many others have been severely burned or injured attempting it. The potential reward is not very high, but the potential risk is very high.”

And although the company has made numerous attempts at educating the public about the dangers of copper theft, the problem continues to grow.

“Since copper theft has become such a problem, we have taken a number of steps to stop the activity,” he said. “We offer a reward of up to $5,000 for information that would lead to the arrest and conviction of suspected copper thieves and we have paid out around a dozen rewards to people who have provided that information.”

Anyone with any information is encouraged to contact law enforcement.

— E-mail: kvanpelt@register-herald.com

[Tom Taggart]

Heck, if you could educate these people they might be working an honest job, or, at least, become involved in more sophisticated criminal activities, like running for office.

[CoolBreeze]

A substation is one of the most dangerous place that you can find yourself, especially it you touch the wrong thing. I cant imagine how anyone could think they might get away from stealing copper that's charged. Even if it's scrap lying around, the possibility of removing it without touching something else is just plain dangerous. The only thing I can think of is that such a person would have to be drunk or high. I seriously doubt that anyone is stealing copper to feed their family....

[The Interpreter]

...or insanely stupid.

Sadly, there are a lot of such people, and education seldom works, as they almost always think they will be the one to get away with it.

Desperate people also are driven to do desperate things.

[genlock]

BECKLEY, W.Va. -- Raleigh County authorities have identified a man who died after suffering severe burns in what police believe was an attempt to steal copper.

Raleigh County sheriff's Sgt. Larry Lilly told The Register-Herald that 39-year-old Toby Lee Harrah of Crab Orchard was found at an Appalachian Power substation last Thursday. Harrah later died.