Hot dogs are a tasty camping tradition for most folks. Just maybe not the way Adam Crabb, Jason Phillips and Christian Guimond cook them — with several thousand volts of electricity.
“Electricity burns you from the inside out, so you’ll start to smell that hot dog as it rots,” said Crabb, a working foreman at Tipmont, after exposing the food to electric current during a live-line demonstration at Camp Kilowatt. “That’s the downside for those of you in front.”
The stench is hard to shake. By design, so is the message: Stay away from electric wires and other infrastructure.
Presented by Tipmont linemen like Crabb, Phillips (a journeyman lineman) and Guimond (an apprentice lineman), the live-line demonstration depicts how energy moves along electric lines, the consequences of touching those electric lines and the safety required for linemen to do their work.
“We all look out for each other,” Crabb says. “We want to make sure everybody goes home safely to their families.”
Tipmont offers this demonstration to community groups, youth organizations and first responders, and it has become an annual fixture at Camp Kilowatt, held last month at Camp Tecumseh in Brookston, Ind.
Developed by a committee of electric cooperative employees from Indiana, Camp Kilowatt is funded in part by Indiana Electric Cooperatives, individual electric cooperatives located across Indiana, and other industry partners.
Camp Kilowatt’s fun, powerful and unique experience brings incoming seventh graders to a 650-acre campground for traditional camp activities (e.g., archery, ziplining, swimming) and opportunities to learn about alternative energy, internet safety, electricity generation and transmission, and more — including, through the live-line demonstration, what to do if you’re in a car that comes into contact with a power line.
WHAT TO DO IF YOUR CAR COMES INTO CONTACT WITH A POWER LINE
- Stay in the vehicle unless fires or fumes force you to exit.
- If you must exit, remember that you cannot be touching the vehicle and the ground at the same time.
- Carefully open the door and stand on the door sill plate with your feet together the whole time.
- Cross your arms, jump away from the car and keep your feet together on the ground.
- Shuffle-step or bunny-hop away “until you’re tired and then do it some more” (as Crabb says).
“If I save even one life through what people learn, that life to me is worth it,” Crabb says.
Daniel Langenkamp, a 12-year-old camper from nearby Battle Ground, was among the campers who swarmed a display table after the live-line demonstration to view the Tipmont linemen’s safety gear.
“I liked how the demonstration showed us how long electricity can stay in the wire,” Daniel said. “Overall, Camp Kilowatt has been a cool experience. I’ve done a lot of fun things here.”
