A lightning protection system will be added to the new Lincoln County Medical Center while it is under construction in Ruidoso, N.M., according to an article on the Ruidoso News website.
The hospital is asking local county commissioners to consider a change order to add the lightning protection system to allow it to be integrated into the building during construction.
While the system is not required for the design, it creates a number of points that if lightning was about to strike, it would be one of those points, which would take it directly to the ground, protecting the hospital from fire and from equipment damage, county officials said.
Project officials said the system must be done as part of the initial construction, because it is too integrated in the structure to be retrofit at a later time without significant disturbance.
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