KITES IN LINES

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32393, 4 September 1970, Page 14

KITES IN LINES

Trouble And Danger

Kite-flying by children in Christchurch has caused problems to the Municipal Electricity Department and the New Zealand Electricity Department lately, kites having become entangled in power lines. Linesmen have been called out several times to remove tangled kites from power lines but there have been no failures as a result of entanglements, although power has been cut for brief periods while linesmen removed the kites.

Mr D. G. Simes, the distribution engineer for the N.Z.E.D., said yesterday that there- had been a considerable amount of trouble with kites, especially during the last two weeks. Entanglements had occurred in several areas, one of the worst being Burnside Park. Mr E. M. Nalder, the acting chief engineer for the M.E.D., said it was hoped the problem would be reduced shortly with the end of (he August holidays. Children were warned emphatically of the dangers of kite flying near overhead electric lines. Pulling at the tangled string of kites wrapped in the bare conductors of an 11,000-volt overhead line woqld gradually draw together the wires of the high-tension circuit, and tragedy could come swiftly. Low-tension lines also had a very definite danger for kite flyers and the only safe course was to avoid entirely all types of overhead electric lines. A wet kite string in contact with a live line could have very serious results for the child holding it. Any kite which became entangled with an overhead wire should be abandoned.