Hanover Park sports fields get lightning protection system
While this year's baseball season is in the books and the football season is coming to a close, Hanover Park has taken an extra step to warn athletes and spectators at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District fields on Barrington Road when lightning is near.
The village last week installed the Thor Guard lightning protection system on top of the concession stand. Public Works Director T.J. Moore says the system will be on during daylight hours and when play is occurring at night.
"This is a very common device at public gathering places, and it's becoming standard, especially for sports fields," Moore said.
The system, which cost $7,000, was paid for with money the village has set aside for field improvements, Moore said.
Hanover Park's system operates on solar-powered batteries, so it will still work to alert people when lightning is near even if the electricity goes out.
"It kind of seemed like a no-brainer," Moore said. "And that's just a little side benefit that there's no extra environmental burden."
The system makes calculations using sensors that read positive and negative ions in the air. Once it calculates possible conditions for lightning up to 2.5 miles away, the system goes into alarm mode.
People on and around the fields will know the system has detected possible conditions for lightning when they hear a 15-second alarm and see a strobe light flashing on top of the concession stand. Once the threat of lightning has passed, the system produces three five-second busts of alarm, and the strobe light stops flashing.
"When the alarm is going off, you can't miss it," Moore said. "When people pull up to the fields, even if they don't hear the alarm, they will know to stay in their vehicles when they see the light flashing."
Moore says purchasing the system was a precautionary measure, and that he hasn't seen any lightning issues at the field in the past.
The detection system will remain on during the day through the winter, and is set to turn off at dusk, Moore says.