Teens Setting Up Hammocks Below High-Voltage Power Lines In Weber County

WEBER COUNTY, Utah – The Weber County Sheriff’s Office is warning teenagers to stop the dangerous trend of setting up hammocks right below high-voltage power lines.

16-year-old Lauren Rees participated in the dangerous activity about a year ago, when she went with a group of friends to catch the view from the North Ogden divide.

“All my friends were doing it,” Rees said. “It’s what you do and they would always go up.”

She went along one time, not fully thinking through whether it was a good idea or not.

“At the time I was scared and figured it probably wasn’t the best idea that I was doing it, but I never knew it was trespassing.”

A picture gaining a lot of attention on Facebook, shows two people climbing the powerlines. One is especially high, near lines that carry about 75-thousand kilovolts of power.

“Now, I probably wouldn’t do it, knowing that they want people to stop just for safety reasons and how dangerous it really can be.”

North Ogden City is trying to give teens a safer option. On the west end of Oaklawn Park, a hammocking area was installed just under a year ago, with the help of poles, donated by Rocky Mountain Power. But some would argue it is missing at least one thing.

“It doesn’t have the view and I don’t think they can pull as much attention to that spot without the view.”

It’s just one of the challenges deputies face now as they try to keep teens away from these.

The Weber County Sherriff’s office says they will have extra patrols around the power lines here in the benches around North Ogden and Pleasant View.

They say anyone they find in them will be cited for trespassing.