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Dogs get electric shocks at Castle Island

City Councilor Ed Flynn reports a dog was shocked and burned at Castle Island today, an apparent victim of "stray electricity" from a shorted-out or improperly connected electrical cable.

According to a discussion on the South Boston Community Bulletin Board the dog was one of two shocked today in an area near the Korean War Memorial on the far end of the park from the parking lot. Boston firefighters and other emergency responders rushed to the scene.

Flynn said that in response, he will be seeking a formal hearing on the problem, which has happened elsewhere in the city as well to dogs that have stepped onto metal plates over electrical junctions.

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Comments

Not to be that guy, but this area was underwater twice in the last two months, in January and in the March storm.

There's going to be problems in all the areas that flooded with seawater, including the areas where backwash water came up through storm drains and utility conduits.

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Seems to happen a lot (as a dog owner, terrifyingly frequently), even in areas that weren't recently under seawater. This is just the most recent incident. There are plenty more in the archives.

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More and more, I've noticed instead of shoveling sidewalks, many places (especially the ) slather them with tons and tons of rock salt.

It's bad for the environment, but it also hastens deterioration of concrete and corrosion of steel and electrical equipment.

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Seawater flooding and corrosion.

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Put signs of caution at these sights until the City decides to pass the issue around from hearing to hearing at the meetings they will have before the problem gets "fixed". A human could be next.

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Castle Island is state control, not city control. So, before you go bagging on local government, this is Charlie B's purview, both in terms of physical control, and regulation.

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Electricity seeks the shortest path to the ground. These grounding connections exist all over the place. They are a necessary part of the circuit. Visit any stretch of utility poles and you will find one such ground line every so-many poles that is driven into the ground, often with a copper spike or rod for this connection. In every home there is a similar connection to your cold water pipe that leads out to the street. Some believe that this is protection against lighting or safety against electrical shock but it is far more than that.

If the ground line is missing or has become disconnected in the street, and if something becomes "energized" in that area it lacks that path to ground and small areas can be electrically active. Rare but possible. this is especially true of utility manhole covers and similar access plates.

Copper and steel connections will corrode over time and that cannot be predicted as to when. And there are too many (millions) for any energy company to effectively check them on a regular basis. Same is true with all of those small natural gas leaks discussed here. You can only address them when they are found and broken

It's a monster of modern living that we have created.

Those areas that flooded will have seen water throughout utility line tunnels and pipes underground. In time, as suggested, those areas will need their ground lines addressed. Indeed, you can expect an increase in manhole explosions as wires and cables corrode over time, electrical demand heats them up to pass energy through the weakened parts, and 'boom' just like a fuse blows or circuit breaker trips, only in this case, it will go off with a bang.

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LED light poles that wrrr connected to old crappy wiring. I saw them on several occasions when installing them. New wires should have been installed and n the pull boxes.

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I'm a cat person, and who walks a cat?
But even so, I will always step around or over metal utility grates and covers on the sidewalk and street whenever possible. I started getting paranoid about it, even with rubber soled shoes, back a few years ago when all those dogs in the South End were being shocked.

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First off, thoughts and prayers to the dogs/owners, that has to be upsetting. As I walk myself downtown I avoid all the metal grates/manholes in case of electrical current and im also worried about how sturdy those are when stepped on.

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Do not chase !
color:
length: 1 Planck
If you have not seen it call 311
$$reward$$

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are such cards!

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Do the booties insulate your dog from this hazard? Or are they generally too thin to make a difference?

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