44 Army Rangers Struck By Lightning

A routine ”lightning protection protocols” training session for a group of Army Rangers ended with a real life lesson on just how dangerous Florida’s electrical storms can be.

It seems 44 teachers and students in the training session, conducted near Pensacola’s Eglin Air Force Base, ended up being struck during a storm, WFTV is reporting. Twenty of those struck required overnight hospitalization.

“Ranger students and instructors are tough,” Col. David Fivecoat, the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade’s commander, told CNN Thursday. Thirty-one “students will return to training tonight and continue with increased medical monitoring as they try to earn their Ranger tab.”

The class of Ranger students had two female members, WFTV noted. Neither was injured during the lightning strike.

Florida led the nation in the number of lightning-related fatalities in 2014 with six, in 2013 with four, and in 2012 with five, according to the National Weather Service. Missouri and Utah outpaced Florida in the number of deaths in 2011 with three each. Florida recorded only one death that year.

See Also:

• 3 Struck by Lightning on Nude Beach
• Lightning Deaths on the Rise, National Weather Service Warns
• 81-Year-Old Largo Man Killed by Lightning Strike

The Sunshine State has already seen three fatal strikes in 2015, the weather service reported. The first occurred May 13 when a 36-year-old man was killed in Bonita Springs while roofing. The second took place in Largo on June 19 when 81-year-old Jay Freres was out taking a walk. The third death came in Port Orange on June 26 when a 45-year-old woman was working on the roof of her home.

Three people on a Miami area nude beach were struck by lightning in late July, as well. That strike, like the one near Elgin, resulted in no fatalities.

“Summer is the most dangerous season for lightning,” the weather service warns on its website. “Most lightning fatalities occur in June, July and August.”

For more information about lightning strikes and for safety tips, visit the National Weather Service online.

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