Students' minds jolted by electrical safety seminar
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (AP) - In several ways, it was a shocking lesson for Bloomington Area Career Center students.
Hailing from Paxton, Live Line Demo Inc. owner Steve Hancock demonstrated the hazards of commercial power apparatus to a class of aspiring paramedics and firefighters, as well as professional first responders. A morning session was held for 27 students at Bloomington Fire Station No. 2 and was contracted by Ameren Illinois.
Hancock reviewed gear and equipment that crews typically use to keep themselves safe and insulated from high-voltage currents, such as rubber gloves, poles known as 'œhot sticks,'ť transfer cables and more, The Pantagraph reports.
Hancock warned the class that as few as 5 milliamps can stop a person's heart, adding that most accidents happen at 124 volts or less. The instructor warned students that it may not be possible to see, hear or smell an unstable electrical circuit, and you can't outrun it.
'œTrust me, I have tried,'ť Hancock added.
One demonstration included arching a high-voltage current with a mock bird. Another blew a fuse with a loud bang that abruptly reclaimed the attention of a few sleepy students attending the 8:30 a.m. class.
Hancock said any downed wire must be avoided until it is verified as safe.
He also said touching a fallen cable line can be deadly, as it might be touching a live wire somewhere out of view. He recalled how a telephone line grounding 24 volts of direct current through a gas pipe fatally electrocuted a lineman trying to move through a crawl space around 20 years ago.
Hancock explained that when working with downed wires, crews must always safely verify whether a line is still 'œhot,'ť no matter what they've been told.
Additional first responders attended an afternoon session at the fire station, also provided by Hancock. Eric Davison, public information officer for the Bloomington Fire Department, said complacency is a big killer in the fire service, and any other field.
'œIt's a great reminder of just the danger of it,'ť he said of the demonstration.