ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. \u2014 Several people have been struck by lightning in Central Florida over the last few weeks, raising concerns among residents who work and play outside.<\/p>\n
Places like Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs have a lightning warning system to help keep people safe.<\/p>\n
When the sirens sound, it\u2019s time to get inside quickly, something landscaper Daniel Sharkey will always heed after a near-death experience.<\/p>\n
Home surveillance video shows Sharkey on the ground two years ago after he says he was struck by lightning while mowing a lawn in Altamonte. Sharkey adds that he doesn\u2019t remember getting hit, just waking up dazed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t feel very much,\u201d Sharkey said. \u201cI was just kind of numb and tingly, just trying to figure out, you know, it\u2019s like I was hit by a freight train.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sharkey sustained burns on his body and spent four days in the hospital as he recovered.<\/p>\n
Central Florida paramedics receive a lot of training to respond when someone is struck by lightning. Paramedic James Tagliani at Seminole County Fire Station 21 in Casselberry says paramedics often focus on neurological damage and keeping someone\u2019s heart pumping after they are struck.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have our Lifepak 15s here. It has an AED built into it, so we\u2019ll use that to be able to monitor their cardiac rhythm, as well as being able to treat any cardiac dysrhythmias,\u201d Tagliani said.<\/p>\n
Spectrum News 13 Chief Meteorologist Bryan Karrick says lightning strikes in Florida 1.2 million times a year on average. He adds a storm can still pose a risk from miles away.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt can strike anywhere from 10 to as much as 20 miles away from the parent storm,\u201d Karrick said.<\/p>\n
Karrick also says residents should move indoors even if a thunderstorm is not right overhead. He adds that over the past year across the U.S., only Oklahoma witnessed more lightning strikes than here in Florida, and he says residents and visitors in Central Florida need to be extra careful.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn average, we see the most lightning in a stretch from Tampa up to Titusville, and actually it\u2019s known as Lightning Alley,\u201d Karrick said.<\/p>\n
Sharkey does not dwell on the strike that changed his life. He\u2019s fully recovered, works as a part-time firefighter and EMT, teaches CPR classes and educates people about the risk of lightning while spending time outdoors. He recalls that the neighbors who tried to help him were not medical experts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were afraid to even touch me,\u201d Sharkey said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t know if I might still be electrified or things like that. So it\u2019s really important to get that information out there to the general public.\u201d<\/p>\n
Karrick often reminds viewers during his forecasts, \u201cWhen thunder roars, go indoors,\u201d to play it safe.<\/p>\n
He adds that the temperature in a lightning bolt itself can reach up to 54,000 degrees, five times hotter than the sun\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. \u2014 Several people have been struck by lightning in Central Florida over the last few…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2967,17173,28,30,29,1337,115,139,277,1014,6390,835,221],"class_list":["post-396429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-app-public-safety","tag-app-weather","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-keith-landry","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-public-safety","tag-seminole-county","tag-topic-latest-public-safety-crime-stories","tag-vod","tag-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}