LIGHTNING STRIKES

An emergency management official is sending a new warning and shelter advisory to golf courses.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
THE FLEETING, BUT SOMETIMES deadly, flash of lightning followed by the roar of thunder are common features of summer in this climate.The LPGA returns to the Mahoning Valley next month, and a letter this month from Walter Duzzny, Mahoning County's emergency management director, reminds local golf courses of the hazard posed by lightning and the need to provide adequate warning and shelter.
A scarred survivor
Frank Cimmento, a survivor of a lightning strike that killed his friend six years ago, still bears a scar on his neck and says he still feels the effects in the form of joint pain and memory loss.
"Get the hell off the course. Go inside. I mean, don't stand in one of those sheds because they're not going to save you from anything," when there's a potential lightning hazard, advised Cimmento, 35, of Youngstown.
He was knocked unconscious when lightning struck him and three others June 12, 1996, at Diamond Back Golf Course in Ellsworth. He spent 20 hours in the Children's Hospital burn unit in Akron after suffering burns where a chain he was wearing melted into his neck and where he wore a pager on his hip. All the hair was burned off one side of his head, and he suffered burns on his legs and feet.
His friend, Kevin Haggerty, 32, of Niles, who was also knocked unconscious, stopped breathing for five to seven minutes. Haggerty was resuscitated by paramedics at the scene, but he died 17 days later in St. Elizabeth Health Center.
"Ninety percent of the golf shoes today are made with plastic cleats. He had steel cleats on," Cimmento said, adding that he still wonders whether the steel cleats were contributing factors in Haggerty's death.
Cimmento was not wearing cleats.
The others
As for the two other survivors, Donald Derflinger, then 30, of Rogers, was in stable condition, and Brian Geddes, then 27, of Warren, was treated, both at St. Elizabeth's. All were corrections officers in the same foursome, and the three survivors still work in that capacity. Cimmento is also a Youngstown State University police officer.
The foursome was 500 to 600 yards from the clubhouse when the group sought protection in a shelter, but found a swarm of bees in it. Because Haggerty was allergic to beestings, the group left the shelter, and when the rain resumed, stood under a large willow tree, where the lightning struck, Cimmento said.
Cimmento recalled that the June 1996 lightning strike occurred without any severe weather warning from the National Weather Service or the golf course, and it caught everyone by surprise on an otherwise sunny day. "The sun was shining when we teed off. It happened so fast," he said.
In the Greater Youngstown area, Vindicator files show 22 deaths and at least 42 injuries caused by lightning since 1948.
Although some storms hit with little or no warning, Duzzny is sending to golf courses and others sponsoring athletics and other outdoor activities a revised version of the emergency preparedness letter he sent the golf courses last year. Every sponsor of outdoor activities should have a severe weather warning and shelter plan and some relatively inexpensive equipment needed to carry it out, Duzzny said.
"I think it's well within the realm of common sense to look at customers and say "We have a responsibility to protect them.' I would think that that's part of good business," he added.
Action plans
Duzzny also said he thinks agencies that grant permits for outdoor concerts and festivals should insist on an action plan for each event in case of severe weather or other emergencies, such as fireworks accidents. "We can't afford to lose one life or get one person hurt because somebody says you didn't have a plan," Duzzny said.
Severe weather equipment for a golf course or other outdoor athletic facility should include a weather alert radio in a place where someone can hear it at all times, a well-stocked first aid kit in a noticeable location, and a portable horn that can be sounded from a golf cart circulating through the course, he said.
Each of these items costs about $50, he said, characterizing the package as a worthwhile expenditure that could help save lives and protect a golf course from major legal liability. The golf course should establish a rule that everyone must come into the clubhouse when the horn is sounded, he advised. A siren on the clubhouse roof, which would be desirable, but not essential, would cost about $18,000, he said.
Golfers should also look to the west or southwest for signs of impending inclement weather, Duzzny said.
Ready to warn
The 36-hole Mill Creek Park golf course is notified of severe weather warnings by park police and has hand-held air horns to sound the warnings and 12 shelters throughout the course, including the clubhouse, said Dennis Miller, the park's golf director. Also audible there is a siren on a Boardman fire station roof at Shields Road and Lockwood Boulevard.
Duzzny and Miller said the clubhouse is the most desirable shelter for golfers.
Mill Creek Park's golf course has lightning protection tips posted throughout the clubhouse and a written policy that golfers have the right to stop playing and obtain rain checks if they think weather conditions are hazardous.
"I don't want anybody out there when there's lightning, because it's too dangerous. It's very difficult to get people to come in, believe it or not. People don't understand how dangerous lightning is. People need to be more aware of how dangerous it can be," Miller said.
Duzzny said his office, at the South Side Annex, 2801 Market St., stands ready to help any sponsor of outdoor events and activities develop a plan for severe weather and other emergencies.