Sparking kids' interest: SPD energy camp focuses on electricity

Southern Power District linemen used a hot dog to demonstrate the power and danger of 7,200 volts of electricity Thursday.

As the hot dog touched the model of an overhead electrical wire, the hot dog lit up in white hot flames, leaving it fried and missing its end.

"There's no splatter -- it's just burnt and it's gone. That's how dangerous electricity can be," said Southern Power District Safety Director Darrel Schmidt. "You would have no finger or be dead. Are there any questions?"

"Can I have a hot dog?" quickly asked Brendon, one of 17 elementary students participating in the Bright Ideas Day Camp at Southern's corporate headquarters in Grand Island.

The biennial day camp is geared toward third-, fourth- and fifth-graders to teach things such as energy efficiency and electrical safety and to spur interest in future utility careers, said Southern spokeswoman LeAnne Doose.

The group was captivated as Hastings lineman Bryan Satterly donned pole climbing gear and used the tiny metal spikes clamped around his feet to boost himself up the pole.

"He just puts the point (of the spike) in the pole and continues to climb up the pole," Schmidt narrated.

A lineman literally stands on a tip of metal less than one-inch wide and uses a climbing belt to lean back or forth to reach parts of the pole that need repair.

"Would that be fun?" Schmidt asked.

"Yeah," shouted a youngster named Brian.

Schmidt said Brian may have a future in the utility industry after completing high school and then two years of lineman school.

Nine-year-old Sarah Fitzgerald of Doniphan was mesmerized with Southern's bucket truck.

"I want to go all the way up," she said.

But a less enthusiastic second passenger in Fitzgerald's bucket prevented Leadman Greg Olerich from taking the bucket up to the truck's full extension at 77 feet.

Holdrege Lineman Brian Anderson, prepping the next bucket truck riders, assured the youngsters that the bucket truck is more tame than most carnival rides.



"It's not nearly as scary as a Ferris wheel," Anderson said. "A Ferris wheel goes around in circles and these don't."

But as fun as it was to ride in the bucket, watch a pole climber and even try to lift the district's 175-pound training mannequin, the safety message registered as Schmidt and his crew showed the impact of a tree on a power line.

The tree smoked and felt hot once it was removed from the line. Had anyone touched the tree, the person's body would have become a conduit for electricity, Schmidt said.

But it doesn't take an overhead line to pose electrical danger.

Even putting your finger in an electrical appliance, such as a toaster, or in a household electrical socket can cause severe burns.

"It burns from the inside out," Schmidt showed as he tore open another demonstration hot dog.

The bottom line is not to let your body become a path for electricity. If a power line falls on your car, stay in the car. If a tree limb is touching a power line, don't touch the tree, he said.

The day campers from Southern's five service areas -- Grand Island, Hastings, Franklin, Holdrege and Central City -- then headed out to learn more about the science of electricity at the Edgerton Explorit Center in Aurora.