# 1,000 Idiots Watch Powerplant Being Blown Up; One Loses Leg **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 3, 2013, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-000-idiots-watch-powerplant-being-blown-up-one-loses-leg/665277 "2013-08-03T21:33:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2013, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-000-idiots-watch-powerplant-being-blown-up-one-loses-leg/665277/1 "2013-08-03T21:33:56Z")
“More than 1,000 people had gathered at 6 a.m. in a nearby parking lot to watch the planned implosion at the plant owned by Pacific Gas and Electric in Bakersfield. After structures on the property came crashing down, a police officer at the scene heard a man screaming for help and saw his leg had been severed, police said.” > **[Power plant implosion goes wrong](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/03/5-spectators-injured-at-old-power-plant-implosion/2615005/)** > > A spectator watching a power plant be imploded may lose both legs to shrapnel [This article starts with a video] ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2013, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-000-idiots-watch-powerplant-being-blown-up-one-loses-leg/665277/2 "2013-08-03T21:42:14Z")
I don’t think it necessarily makes you an idiot if you like to watch stuff get blowed up. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2013, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-000-idiots-watch-powerplant-being-blown-up-one-loses-leg/665277/3 "2013-08-03T21:42:29Z")
I don’t know, the police didn’t even close down traffic on the near by road. This looks like an incident where the safety radius was somehow not accurately estimated or the explosives were improperly used. It’s not like the guy was walking around the building. Sounds like the demolition crew done fucked up. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2013, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-000-idiots-watch-powerplant-being-blown-up-one-loses-leg/665277/4 "2013-08-03T22:05:56Z")
> [@](#): > > The company handling the demolition had set up a **safe** perimeter 1,000 feet from the site > [@](#): > > The company hired subcontractors to handle the demolition of the plant’s boiler structures and worked with local authorities to set up a **safe** perimeter 1,000 feet from the site, said Denny Boyles, a company spokesman. You Keep Using That Word, I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2013, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-000-idiots-watch-powerplant-being-blown-up-one-loses-leg/665277/5 "2013-08-03T22:30:48Z")
What makes these people idiots, exactly? ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2013, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-000-idiots-watch-powerplant-being-blown-up-one-loses-leg/665277/6 "2013-08-03T22:52:46Z")
being up at 6 AM. What are they all farmers? ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2013, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-000-idiots-watch-powerplant-being-blown-up-one-loses-leg/665277/7 "2013-08-03T22:53:45Z")
A case where something similar happened (and a person was killed) happened [in 1997 in Canberra](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Canberra_Hospital_implosion). I don’t think the 100,000 spectators then were idiots, though the demolition contractors didn’t know enough about how to implode a building. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2013, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-000-idiots-watch-powerplant-being-blown-up-one-loses-leg/665277/8 "2013-08-03T22:54:07Z")
People who stand where authorities and alleged experts tell them is a safe spot are not “idiots”. An “idiot” would be someone who deliberately got closer than the alleged safe zone. Latest news I heard the man mentioned in the OP might also lose his other leg. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2013, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-000-idiots-watch-powerplant-being-blown-up-one-loses-leg/665277/9 "2013-08-03T22:59:10Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Sounds like the demolition crew done fucked up. It blowed up _real good!_ ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2013, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-000-idiots-watch-powerplant-being-blown-up-one-loses-leg/665277/10 "2013-08-03T23:07:55Z")
Sounds like that guy was really blown away by the demolition. Swept off his feet, you might even say. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-000-idiots-watch-powerplant-being-blown-up-one-loses-leg/665277/11 "2013-08-04T00:33:22Z")
Sorry that folks got hurt. They should have gone to the quarry and thrown stuff in there instead. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-000-idiots-watch-powerplant-being-blown-up-one-loses-leg/665277/12 "2013-08-04T00:54:59Z")
> [@GaryM](#): > > Sorry that folks got hurt. They should have gone to the quarry and thrown stuff in there instead. Dear God that is the stupidest fucking thing to happen on the internet since goatse. “Pull my finger” is more creative and funny. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-000-idiots-watch-powerplant-being-blown-up-one-loses-leg/665277/13 "2013-08-04T01:27:09Z")
I guess they didn’t know about [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_WKr-G6Lp8) implosion that killed a girl across a lake. Note the shrapnel into the lake amongst the boats. And the number of “idiots” there. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-000-idiots-watch-powerplant-being-blown-up-one-loses-leg/665277/14 "2013-08-04T03:35:31Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > “More than 1,000 people had gathered at 6 a.m. in a nearby parking lot to watch the planned implosion at the plant owned by Pacific Gas and Electric in Bakersfield. After structures on the property came crashing down, a police officer at the scene heard a man screaming for help and saw his leg had been severed, police said.” > [USA TODAY](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/03/5-spectators-injured-at-old-power-plant-implosion/2615005/) > [This article starts with a video] Idiots? Jeez :rolleyes: aren’t you superior? Tragic. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-000-idiots-watch-powerplant-being-blown-up-one-loses-leg/665277/15 "2013-08-04T04:00:23Z")
Spectators have been hurt (and killed) in 'controlled" explosions for over 100 years. Like, the famous [Crush, TX staged train wreck](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crush,_Texas). ---
**Author:** ![Elyanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5ac83/32.png) [@Elyanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elyanna)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-000-idiots-watch-powerplant-being-blown-up-one-loses-leg/665277/16 "2013-08-04T05:05:27Z")
I was one of the spectators this morning, though in a different parking lot a bit further away. A friend of my husband’s, however, was next to the man who lost his leg. The friend has video of the shrapnel ripping through the chain link fence & the video cuts off just as the screaming starts. ☹ A de-construction worker was killed last year at the same power plant. Fell to his death, ugh. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-000-idiots-watch-powerplant-being-blown-up-one-loses-leg/665277/17 "2013-08-04T05:48:06Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Idiots? Jeez :rolleyes: aren’t you superior? Damned uppity bipeds. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-000-idiots-watch-powerplant-being-blown-up-one-loses-leg/665277/18 "2013-08-04T06:23:40Z")
The structures dropped straight down as planned. A typical controlled implosion. The structure didn’t explode outward. It seems like a freak accident that a small bit of shrapnel went flying. It probably could have easily traveled another half mile. Very bad luck that it hit somebody. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-000-idiots-watch-powerplant-being-blown-up-one-loses-leg/665277/19 "2013-08-04T07:37:36Z")
I’d’ve gone and watched. The chances of losing a leg must be a thousand to one. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-000-idiots-watch-powerplant-being-blown-up-one-loses-leg/665277/20 "2013-08-04T15:46:38Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > 1,000 Idiots Watch Powerplant Being Blown Up; One Loses Leg _1,000 idiots watching a plant start to fall. 1,000 idiots drinking beer, One gets blown down, ambulance’d downtown 999 idiots watching a plant start to fall…_ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-000-idiots-watch-powerplant-being-blown-up-one-loses-leg/665277.md?page=2)