Hero woman saves baby after watching 3 others fatally electrocuted in attempt | Hacker News Reader

Hero woman saves baby after watching 3 others fatally electrocuted in attempt

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12 pointskeepamovin23 comments

What the woman did was definitely brave, but I'm not yet convinced it was smart or necessary. The article gives her credit for "saving" the kid, but it also sounds like the baby was essentially unharmed and would have been fine laying in the father's arms for another 5-10 minutes until the power was shut off and rescuers arrived.

In no way do I want to discourage people from heroically risking their own safety to save others, but I do think there's a difference between doing so when things are urgent and doing so when the situation is stable and help is on the way. This specific situation seems to be in the latter bucket, unless there's more information not in the article.

These are things only obvious in hindsight.

The Associated Press published more details about the people involved and how the rescuer approached the baby (by moving at a low crouch to avoid slipping into the wire): https://apnews.com/article/power-line-car-three-electrocuted...

In emergency responder training, they teach you "Don't just do something, stand there!"

And this is exactly why. If you rush in, you have a good chance of becoming another victim - electrocution is the obvious one, but also bad air, unstable structures, etc. You need to understand the situation before approaching so that you can do the right thing, not the quickest thing.

I wonder a little at the trend in the commentariat seemingly on display here to downplay the heroism of the lady in question, while simultaneously exaggerating the banality of what happened -- hmm, what good can come from framing a tragedy and charged (pun both in- and not intended) moment thus?

Is it in the confrontation of danger to believe, not that you have something to learn, but to be reassured by the fact that there's nothing new here to you, that you already know how to handle it and nothing extraordinary is required? Hmm, probably something like that.

For me, tho, I'd like to see the lady as a hero and the situation as something I Can learn from.

Nitpick - there shouldn't be a way to be non-fatally electrocuted. However, the language has been vandalised to the extent that electrocution (literally execution by electricity) now means the same as electric shock.

Hmmm, it seems perfectly fine to me. I touched a live wire that had contacted water in a carpet at a hotel room threshold, and I got "electroucted" but it was just a small "electric shock". I was fine (but, erm, nonplussed and well-learned).

To what etymological root are your referring when you impose your "electrocuted must be fatal" dictum? :) haha :)

if you didn't die, you weren't electrocuted, you weren't anything-cuted.

Really, that's the word???

You know, this is the Internet, so I'm gonna need to see some sources, haha! :)

As i read the story, the father was trying to put the baby back in the car; stepped on the wire, and fell over, dropping the kid. Others then stepped in without thought to try to get the kid away from the live wires and fell to the same cause.

Regrettable, but understandable. "Kid in danger: try to save it!" is a near reflex, certainly not a considered thoughtful action.

The victims meant well. "Can't fault someone for trying their best, even if their efforts are ineffective," right?

Yeah, man. Totally. It sucks. They were just reacting doing their best. It's scary and shows you how fine and arbitrary (in the sense that, if you had, just at 1 point in your life, had some sort of emergency danger situational awareness training) the line between life and death can be. Hopefully their heroism can live on in the tragic legacy that other's can internalize that lesson and adopt due caution in such circumstances in future!!! :)

That's an insane level of bravery right there. To watch 3 people die trying to do the thing that she then decides to do. It's also insane how the same fate befell all 3 people who rushed to help: they slipped, and somehow contacted with the current. Tragic. But what a hero!

She probably didn't know they were dead

Hahahah! :) Seriously? It would be pretty obvious some bad harm had befallen them, don't you think?

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Alas, Bullshit, CNN.

Archive works: https://archive.ph/QBLuG

Now, as to the courageous woman, I want to say, as others here have posted, that “The DEFINITION of Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result” is also bullshit. It only applies when failure is a certainty. This woman defied a 100% fatality rate by three other people and won.

Another example is the pilot who flew through a volcanic dust cloud and after repeated failures to restart the engines, restarted the engines.

And then, there’s physics since quantum theory overthrew the billiard ball model of the universe.

I'm not clicking a CNN story, but I'd say not so much a hero woman, but ignorant would-be rescuers.

Number one rule in helping someone like that is: Check for Danger. If you don't, then you've suddenly got two (or more!) people who need medical attention.

There's an acronym: DRs-ABCD

Danger (check), Response, Send for help, Airway, Breathing, CPR, Defib. But check for danger, that's number one. Put it in your Anki.

https://www.australiawidefirstaid.com.au/resources/what-is-d...

> I'd say not so much a hero woman, but ignorant would-be rescuers.

They weren't trained professional rescuers; they were family members, trying to save a baby, in moments of surreal chaos.

Right after they're tragically killed, calling them "ignorant would-be" sounds harsh.

I guess the harsh might be due to upset reaction to tragedy, when it might've been avoided, if they knew something that had been drilled into you already in training. But still harsh.

In another context, I imagine that reviewing various real-world examples would be good for DRS-ABCD training. Which can be done with respect for people who were lost.

> They weren't trained professional rescuers

First-Aid can (and should) be learned by everyone. A course takes less than a day. It gives you the skills to safely deal with situations like that.

Anyone reading this: learn first aid. It might save someone else's life, someone who is important to you, and it might just save your life too.

Tragic. What's so dangerous about high tension wires is that they look completely safe, they are silent killers. I don't know the situation here but isn't staying inside the vehicle the safest option in most cases? Understanding the situation first is always essential.

This is well said! :)

I was in a volunteer fire Dept for a while, and the fire chief was an older, ex-marine. His number one rule - "if you loose your cool, you've lost everything".

That, and always park the fire engine so you can get out if things go bad.

Yep, fire vollie here too. 100% good advice.

It's a little negative don't you think to say not much of a hero? For sure, following the advice -- but it might be hard for you to assess the story without reading it, by your own admission! Hahaha! :)

I don't use Anki, do you? -- But anyway that gal was on the phone to first responders as she was watching the other people perish. She was following your advice to a tee, it seems. I don't think that makes her any less of a hero, but I get if you want to be a little ungenerous in your praise -- that might just be you, tho! hahaha! :)

But maybe you were just making a provocative contrarian point to look for a fight because that's what you feel like doing -- sorry! I'm having a good day :) Please find something else to take it out on! Hahah :)

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