Be Prepared

It hasn't been a good week for Boy Scouts in the United States - especially as it was their national Jamboree time. The headline on one site says it all "Bush bringing encouraging words to Scout Jamboree marred by electrocutions, heat illnesses". Four adult scouts were electrocuted at the start of the event when they hit power lines when putting up a tent. A volunteer had died the previous day from an apparent heart attack. Later that week, "Scouting enthusiasts waited hours in the heat for Bush, who later canceled his appearance because of threatening storms. Scouts began collapsing from high humidity and temperatures in the high 90s. More than 300 people were treated for heat-related illnesses." That visit was cancelled, then postponed, but it was third time lucky.
Not so lucky were another group of scouts in California, undertaking a 70-mile hike who were caught out in a 10-minute thunder storm. Despite following safe procedures, lightning struck, killing the scout leader and a teen scout. One of the scout leaders said: "When I talked to the ranger, I said, 'What could we have done?' He said, 'You did everything right, it just turned out you were in the wrong place.'"