Sheriff's office warns public to stop sleeping in hammocks on power lines

A law enforcement agency is once again having to go public with a warning that most would consider common sense — only this time it doesn't have to do with bolting a satellite dish on your car or packing dung in your travel luggage. According to Weber County Sheriff's Office, there has been an uptick in people climbing power installations to hang hammocks from power lines.

This Sheriff's Office is located in Weber County, Utah, where the department says it has noticed an increasing number of hammocks hanging from power lines. The height of these hammocks means the individuals who are hanging them must climb high up the tower, risking life and limb from falls or electrocution.

The office shared an image of one of these hammocks hanging from a tower near power lines, with the sheriff's office noting that this is — as many would assume — quite unsafe. One can presume people are hanging the hammocks on these towers so they can sleep with a nice view of the surrounding landscape...but doing so could result in electrocution.

The sheriff's office warns that power lines carry 75,000 kilovolts of power and that the energy can jump between lines, making this an 'extremely risky' activity. For this reason, the office warns it will be conducting extra patrols of the areas to make sure no one is trespassing.

Of course, the advice applies to more than North Ogden and Pleasant View, Utah, with the same risk applying regardless of which power lines you may decide to sleep for the night.