Hopping Ag (10-08-07)

Did you know that if you ever find yourself standing in the vicinity of a downed power-line, that you should not attempt to walk or even to run? Rather, you should hop.

I learned this fascinating factoid at our first ever Hill City FFA Ag Day, held this Wednesday at the fair grounds. The 5th through 8th grade were treated to all sorts of presentations on everything from food allergies to animal handling to, you guessed it, electrical safety.

All in all, the day progressed smoothly with both entertainment and information in ample supply. One girl, who recently moved here from a big city, was thrilled to have touched a cow. Others happily chewed handfuls of raw wheat, commenting on the novel taste. The group I was with had a blast making motor and brake sound effects to accompany the role-play directed by the presenter for four-wheeler safety. Everyone seemed to have a story to tell about some accident they or someone they knew had while hunting, fishing, or working on the farm.

Of course, the biggest attraction, by far, was the Midwest Energy trailer, complete with it life-size stick-man made out of PVC pipe. This effigy (I’m not sure if he had a name, I’ll just call him “Buzz”) was used to show how many horrible things could happen to you if you should accidentally come into contact with high voltage power lines. The presenters attached several hot dogs to a nail protruding from Buzz’s chest, and the kids watching in awe as bluish-white current shot from the nail and through the frankfurter. They also placed a grapefruit where Buzz’s brain would have been, and it glowed an impressive fiery red when the electrical juice flowed through it.

The point of all this destruction of food was to make the point that high voltage and human flesh do not mix. The grapefruit was a particularly effective demonstration. While the outer skin remained in tact except for a small entrance and a larger exit wound, the pulp inside was thoroughly desiccated, revealing what looked alarmingly like scarred human skin. It certainly gave the onlookers a reason to pause and consider.

What impressed me most, however, was the fact that each presenter had a message that I believe our students needed to hear. The information was relevant and incredibly useful. It occurred to me that while many of our kids have either been raised on a farm or have been around farming for most of their lives, much of what was demonstrated was still fresh and new to them.

Perhaps the best example of this was during the four-wheeler safety presentation when the speaker tried to warn the students about the danger of riding double. “My ATV has handles on the back,” one student told the presenter, “I can hold on safely while I ride double.”

The speaker asked if the student’s four wheeler had an extra seat for a second rider, and when the student answered that his vehicle had only one seat, she showed us how many people regularly confuse the rear storage rack for a safety handle. She then demonstrated just how unsafe holding on to a flimsy storage rack can be.

From my perspective, our Hill City FFA Ag Day succeeded in providing students with incredibly useful and possible life-saving information. I would venture that even our most knowledgeable young people learned of something that before Ag Day they did not know.

I, for one, will never forget that the voltage from a downed power line dissipates through the ground in waves, like ripples in a pond. In one place there may be 5000 volts coursing through the ground, while a few feet away, the voltage may only be 4000, and farther way it may down to 2000, 1000, and so on.

Now while you are standing in one area, the electricity will stay in the ground, but if you attempt to walk away, you may find yourself with one foot on 5000-volt soil and the other on 4000-volt soil. If this were to happen, then the electricity beneath your two feet would attempt to equalize, shooting 1000 volts through you, turning you into one toasty grapefruit.

So if you find yourself next to a downed power line, keep both feet together, and hop away to safety.

Thank you to Mr. Lyder and to all of our wonderful FFA students for one hopping great Ag day, where all you’d ever want or need to know about agriculture and rural safety was just a small hop down to the fair grounds. I can hardly wait to see what new demonstrations and presentations they bring to our students in the years to come.