By LINDSAY MINNEMA
Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Florida)
The power line looked harmless by itself, but when Progress Energy Florida lineman trainer Scott Johns touched it to the firefighter’s boot, the 120 volts of electricity charging through the line ignited a bright bluish-white flame at the bottom of the shoe.
The boot had a potentially fatal secret: A nail was stuck in its sole.
“Electricity will always find the quickest way to the ground,” John Patterson, also a trainer for Progress Energy, warned the crowd at the company’s Winter Garden training center Wednesday for the fourth annual 911 First Responders Storm and Safety Expo. “Always treat any power line as though it’s energized.”
Normally responsible for training company employees, Patterson, Johns and others spent three days, beginning Tuesday and ending today, instructing firefighters, paramedics, police officers and other emergency workers on the dangers of electricity. More than 700 people attended.
In addition to frying the boot, the trainers demonstrated what happens when a kite or a tree branch touches power lines. There also were demonstrations on rescuing an injured person from the top of a power pole and dealing with a transformer that has been hit by a car.
“We don’t deal with electricity every day, so it’s a good idea to talk with those who do,” said Lt. Joe Bordonaro, a paramedic with the Orlando Fire Department. He said the expo was a valuable training exercise.
The expo is intended to encourage emergency workers and utilities employees to work together to enhance their safety around electricity, especially during emergencies such as hurricanes, said Nelson Uher, senior safety specialist at Progress Energy.
“It’s hard to say how many people’s lives we save,” Uher said. “But one thing you can say is that knowledge of the hazards can only help to improve safety.”