Hot line in kitchen

Press, 28 May 1984, Page 2

Hot line in kitchen

PA New Plymouth A lightning strike which tossed a woman across her kitchen highlights the danger of using the telephone during an electric storm, the Post Office said on Saturday. Mrs Elsie Jones, of Kaimata, near Inglewood, suffered burns to her right leg and arms and was thrown about two metres across the room when she was talking on the telephone on Friday afteroon.

“I was talking to my mother. Next thing I knew I was jumping around on the other side of the room,” said Mrs Jones. “The pain lasted about 15 minutes and I was too scared to touch the phone for some time.” The redness and swelling has disappeared but Mrs Jones still has white marks on her skin. • New Plymouth’s Post Office supervising engineer, Mr Warren' Olsen, said lightning was more likely to discharge through telephone lines in rural areas because there were not as many metal contacts around. Lightning could quite easily discharge through the lines and injure those holding the receiver if there were overhead feeds to subscribers’ homes, Mr Olsen said. “People are advised not to use their telephones when there is excessive lightning.”