Man killed by lightning on JMT

[ryanerb]

I read this on a Facebook forum, recently a man was killed by lightning near Muir Trail Ranch.
There has been a lot of lightning activity out there this year, very unfortunate!
Maybe some more folks on here have more information.

[ryanerb]

More details:
Fresno County Sheriff's Office
13h ·
Lightning Strike Kills Fresno Man While Hiking on John Muir Trail
Nicholas Torchia, a 37 year old Fresno man, was pronounced deceased after being struck by lightning. This occurred around 2:00 pm on Friday, July 30th, in an area known as Sallie Keys Cutoff, which is near Muir Trail Ranch (east of Florence Lake). Torchia was hiking on the John Muir Trail when thunderstorms quickly moved in to the area. Torchia took cover by leaning against a tree, a tree which was then struck by a lightning bolt. Torchia fell to the ground. His fellow hikers came to check on him and he told them he didn’t feel well and then became unconscious. A doctor and a nurse who were on the trail tended to Torchia by administering CPR for three hours. Despite their great efforts, he ultimately passed away. The incident was reported to the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff’s Search and Rescue (SAR) members constructed a plan to have air support respond to the area. However, due to weather conditions, it was unknown if a helicopter could be flown in. Around 6:00 pm, officers with the California Highway Patrol saw an opportunity to fly in with their helicopter, H40. They successfully landed at Blayney Meadows, where hikers had transported Torchia’s body. CHP officers completed the recovery and flew Torchia to Fresno where he could be examined by personnel with the Coroner’s Office. Doctors ruled his death to be electrocution caused by lightning.
CHP - Fresno

[maverick]

Already posted here: viewtopic.php?f=37&t=21808.

[ryanerb]

Already posted here: viewtopic.php?f=37&t=21808.

Yeah I guess it got posted in multiple places. Bound to happen on forums I guess. The admins can delete whichever makes sense, etc.

[Troutdog 59]

Me and my brother came over Selden Pass south bound a little after mid day and heard the chopper coming in from the west. We didn't have any idea at the time, but the word spread quickly as we encountered north bound hikers on the JMT. That was our 4th straight day of bad weather and was the worst day in terms of duration of the storm. It began raining about 11:00 and just kept at it until about 6:00 pm or so. We camped at Senger Creek on the JMT in a small cluster of 4 groups. The mood was somber and subdued.

[CAMERONM]

The Fresno Bee ran a long article about this man, so at least the family might feel like he was noticed as more than just a statistic.

[giantbrookie]

One of the things this incident brings home is one of the details of lightning safety that has been discussed on several threads. He wasn't hit on the top of a ridge, pass, or peak. He was on comparatively low ground.

As for the sitting under the tree when the tree was struck, this is understandable, too, even if he was aware of the lightning risk. The biggest reason folks shelter under a tree in a thunderstorm isn't necessarily to feel safer from lightning, but it is to shelter from the rain, which brings up the comparative risk issue: When it really pours the average waterproof-breathable raingear seems to develop leaks--I have yet to find a jacket that is leak proof in a sustained downpour. The risk of hypothermia from getting wet is fairly high. So if one has to choose between the risk from hypothermia versus the lightning strike on the tree, the lower risk move in some cases or maybe a lot of cases may in fact be to shelter under a tree (to keep the rain off).

Accordingly this fellow getting struck on relatively low ground under a tree is a lot more unsettling to me than the more common stories of someone getting hit on the top of a peak or ridge. I have worked hard to avoid being on high ground during a thunderstorm, but I've also spent a lot of time hiding beneath trees to stay dry during said thunderstorms, too, including this year (twice in one day in late June, in fact). Sometimes fate is simply unkind and one is, in a word, unlucky--I think of my advisor getting burned up in his cabin three years ago (what are the odds?) or that single fatality in an earthquake near Klamath Falls years ago when a motorist was killed by a boulder loosed by the earthquake that squashed her car (what are the odds?).

[erutan]

I just hike through lightning if I'm in a basin and/or have a lot of really high ground above me and it's not heavy rain.

I've seen lightning fires down very low, and know it can happen, but the odds seem so low that it doesn't worth it to hunch on my heels for an hour or two away from any obstacles that might attract a strike. That said if I was hit by lightning I'm sure I'd regret my choices.

[c9h13no3]

Sometimes fate is simply unkind and one is, in a word, unlucky

Amen.

[SSSdave]

Report was that he was struck somewhere near the cutoff trail junction that the map shows is at 8400 feet. Just looking at the topography of the slope, there are plenty of areas I would not shelter about but am aware 95% of others would not understand why. There isn't any further info about this on the web so one cannot say the victim did the right or wrong thing or was simply very unlucky.

https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=37.2418 ... 1&z=16&b=t

Note lots of areas of bedrock and brush with sparse trees.
https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=37.2418 ... 1&z=16&b=n

Although lightning is more likely on ridge lines and peak summits, I see fair numbers of obviously burned trees on canyon slopes and usually there are reasons like being near streams or seeps their roots route to or being on the knee of benches and ribs. As lowest ends of ionized lightning leaders erratically travel along by winds in rain downdrafts, they can come into ground contact on sides of canyons if the leaders were moving down the middle of a canyon that winds then push them to the canyon sides.

If in such an environment choose to shelter under denser areas of trees under a tree of lower height at slope concavities. If possible, do not make contact with an actual trunk because if lightning does hit the top of such a tree, current will flow down the outside bark layer living watery cambium all the way to the roots in the ground. Being atop a deep dry duff layer below a canopy is best. The greatest danger in such thunderstorms over broader areas of a landscape is when a thunderstorm downdraft gust front is just approaching while landscape surfaces are still dry. Once heavy rain begins, electrolytes form on wet surfaces that greatly lower electrical resistances across any wet areas thus reducing likelihood current will pass through areas that are still relatively dry like below the canopy of trees.

(6:29pm add SF 9 KC 7. If one sets up a tent on dry surfaces before rains begin, after it has rained some, electrical currents are far more likely to follow the wet surface around a tent than directly under you dry tent bottom on a dry whatever surface. On the other hand setting up a tent on a wet surface may make a path under the tent more likely if say the entrance was a bit wet and your trekking pole was stretched out on the side. So there is value setting up camp early tentatively before a storm hits even if that occasionally means false alarms.