This story caught my attention because we are in the process of building a new house. I keep reading and hearing about construction sites being stripped of copper from wire, plumbing, and HVAC parts. Our builder told us several first hand stories of pilferage from houses that he was working on, so I have been apprehensive throught the process. Fortunately, construction is nearing an end and we haven't incurred any losses. If anyone does hit us I hope they are as inept as the rubes in the story below.



Ya know, how smart do you have to be to know that trying to rip out live wires is not a good idea?

Link to story.

That is a simply SHOCKING story.

Intelligence is limited � stupidity isn't.

Here's a little chlorine for the gene pool:

Man killed trying to steal electrified copper wire

Published on: 05/13/08

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) � Savannah police say a homeless man was electrocuted after apparently trying to steal copper from wires on a utility pole.

The Savannah-Chatham Metro Police say the man, whose identity was withheld until notification of relatives, fell from the pole near the Amtrak station Sunday night after he tried to cut live wires at the top.

More than 100 cases of copper theft were reported to Savannah police last year, and it continues to be a problem.

This is your brain on drugs.

Saw that one I believe, with the pics. Too gross to post as showed the body. Appeared the dude tried to saw wire with the hacksaw, as the handle of hacksaw was fried also.

Definite contender for 2008 Darwin, bearing in mind one needs to 'off' theirself to qualify. Suburban and office mall air conditioners have been dominate targets here lately.

Our construction site have been hit real hard, not to mention a couple of guys cut down two 30" tall Aluminium light poles and were in the process of cutting them up in their front yard to take to the scrap yard. A couple of others got caught stealing man hole covers!

with scrap prices this high we will see more of this

That is just nuts.

I once took a report where someone had stripped a bunch of 4/0 copper cable out of a transformer behind a restaurant that was closed for renovations. A week later he hit it again and got more. He tried to get into the second cabinet but couldn't get the lock off. I left the thief a note that the 2nd cabinet was live. About week later we found him fried to a crisp inside that 2nd cabinet! I tried to warn him, honest!

I have heard of people trying this in coal mines and getting electricuted because the lines were live.

If copper prices are worth dying for, why is a penny worth so little these days?

A penny is worth more as scrap. You can't leave anything on a job, door frames, windows, wire. A lot of power poles have the ground conductor cut off at where you can reach. Several times a day the trash is gone through at work, most of them put everything back because they don't want trouble. We did have a dock plate fished under a fence.

As for manhole covers, that is trying to kill anyone on a bike, and maybe even a car.

Part if the trouble is that scrap yards take the stuff, even if they do have signs stating "we videotape every sale" and take a DL number. You know that if I show up with 200 pop cans, 70 feet of aluminum wire, a new door frame, and 6 manhole covers, I am not cleaning out the shed.

Just last week we had an acquaintance living in Vancouver loose his entire house to copper thieves.

They broke into the house and stripped all the copper out of it - including the piping that brought natural gas into the house.

After they left, the spewing gas ignited - blowing up the entire house.

The house was insured - or so the fellow we know - thought.

Now, the insurance company (nice people that they are) are saying that due to the fact the rental house was, at the time, unoccupied - that the insurance policy is invalid.

The people we know have hired a lawyer.

I know - it boggles the mind to think copper could be valuable enough to steal, while putting one's own life in danger.

Crimminals stealing live wire electricals. Another case of diving off the shallow end of the gene pool.

Agreed.

Imagine pulling off a copper connection while natural gas spews out gas at high pressure - while inside the building! I guess it's just too bad they made it out before the house exploded. Darwinism missed it's chance this time.

The wife and I have been looking at some foreclosures with land in hoping to get out in the country soon. Everyone we have looked at so far, has had the heat and air unti stolen from it. I did not know it was that bad until we started looking and the listing agents telling us about the stolen units.

Our builder told us that the last two things that he puts in houses are whirlpool baths and refrigerators. He says they are real popular items for theives around here.

One thing that may have helped us is that our new next door neighbor is a local LEO, so his patrol car is parked right next to the entrance to our driveway much of the day. He also keeps a keen eye on our property for us, especially keeping folks from fishing in our pond. In fact one evening my son stopped by the new house to check on its progress. Our neighbor had not met my son and walked down and asked what he was doing there. My son introduced himself and everything was fine. Its good to know you have neighbors that care enough to help watch for things.

It's mostly zinc. Besides, it costs 1.6 cents to make.

Here's another would-be thief that made the same mistake of fooling with a live cable, except this one really used the wrong tool to try to cut with...

http://www.wirelessestimator.com/wifi/images/uploads/tower%20site%20fatality.jpg

On the news this morning a man was arrested on 41 counts of grand theft after he tried to scrap 41 manhole covers from Cape Coral at a local scrap yard. I guess they are worth over $150.00 each.