Accidentally contacting a power line can be dangerous and in some cases, even deadly. Tri-County Electric wants to help our members stay safe around power lines.

• Keep a safe distance

• Whether you are playing outdoors with your children or working on landscaping projects, keep a safe distance from power lines and other equipment your co-op uses to get electricity to your home.

• Stay away from power lines, meters, transformers and electrical boxes.

• Don’t climb trees near power lines.

• Never fly kits, remote control airplanes or balloons near power lines.

• If you get something stuck in a power line, call your Touchstone Energy co-op to get it.

• Keep a safe distance from overhead power lines when working with ladders or installing objects such as antennas. 

• Never touch or go near a downed power line.

• Don’t touch anything that may be touching a downed wire, such as a car.

• Keep children and pets away.

Electricity Has The “Potential” For Serious Injury To Emergency Responders

First responders must make good decisions quickly in emergencies. Some of these emergencies involve electric lines, which can be dangerous for both the public and first responders. Safe Electricity wants all first responders to know what to do when they arrive to the scene of an incident that involves electricity.

Traffic accidents, high wind, and ice storms can bring down power lines, power poles, and transformers. Remember, just because it is down does not mean it is dead. Electric equipment may not be sparking or arcing, but it could still be energized, and could have energized the area around the accident. If you arrive to the scene of an incident that involves electricity, get approval from utility personal that the area is safe before entering it. Your instinct may be to rush to a victim’s aid, but you will not be able to help victims if you get a serious or fatal electric shock by rushing into a scene filled with electric energy.

The first responder to a traffic accident, in which utility lines are either on the ground or on the vehicle, faces two separate possibilities of a deadly electric shock.  One of them is known as a “step potential,” and the other is considered a “touch potential.”  In both cases, the emergency responder puts him or herself in danger of becoming a path for the electricity to move through one’s body and cause serious or fatal injuries.

The term potential, as used with electric current, indicates a difference in voltage; and since electricity flows from higher voltage to lower voltage, a person whose body connects those two points will become the path for the current to flow.

A step potential can seriously injure or kill someone who is walking toward or away from the point where an energized wire makes contact with the ground.  As the electricity flows through the soil, which has resistance, the voltage dissipates the further it goes.  By striding across the affected area, an emergency responder could have each foot in different voltage zones, and a fatal charge could travel up one leg and down the other to the area of the lesser voltage.

A touch potential can similarly injure someone who is standing on the ground, which may have a lesser voltage than a vehicle which may be draped with energized wires.  While the victims in such a vehicle are at a single voltage, the difference between that and the voltage in the ground can be fatal to an emergency responder.

You should warn those involved in the accident to stay in the car, where they are safe from electric shock. If the car is on fire and they must get out, they should jump free of the car and land with their feet together. They should continue hopping with their feet together so they will not create an electric flow between their feet.

If you respond to an incident involving electricity stay away, and direct others to stay away. Wait for utility professionals to ensure the area is safe.

Know what to do if a power line falls on your vehicle.

• If a power line falls on a car, you should stay inside the vehicle. This is the safest place to stay. Warn people not to touch the car or the line. 

• The only circumstance in which you should consider leaving a car that is in contact with a downed power line is if the vehicle catches on fire. Open the door. Do not step out of the car. You may receive a shock. Instead, jump free of the car so that your body clears the vehicle before touching the ground. Once you clear the car, shuffle at least 50 feet away, with both feet on the ground.

• As in all power line related emergencies, call for help immediately by dialing 911 

• Do not try to help someone else from the car while you are standing on the ground.

Preventing Electrocutions Associated with Portable Generators Plugged Into Household Circuits

• When power lines are down, residents can restore energy to their homes or other structures by using another power source such as a portable generator. If water has been present anywhere near electrical circuits and electrical equipment, turn off the power at the main breaker or fuse on the service panel. Do not turn the power back on until electrical equipment has been inspected by a qualified electrician.

• If it is necessary to use a portable generator, manufacturer recommendations and specifications must be strictly followed. If there are any questions regarding the operation or installation of the portable generator, a qualified electrician should be immediately contacted to assist in installation and start-up activities. The generator should always be positioned outside the structure.

• When using gasoline- and diesel-powered portable generators to supply power to a building, switch the main breaker or fuse on the service panel to the "off" position prior to starting the generator. This will prevent power lines from being inadvertently energized by backfeed electrical energy from the generators, and help protect utility line workers or other repair workers or people in neighboring buildings from possible electrocution. If the generator is plugged into a household circuit without turning the main breaker to the “off” position or removing the main fuse, the electrical current could reverse, go back through the circuit to the outside power grid, and energize power lines or electrical systems in other buildings to at or near their original voltage without the knowledge of utility or other workers.

• Generator use is also a major cause of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning. Generators should only be used in well ventilated areas.

Power Lines That Gallop can be dangerous

Galloping power lines may sound ridiculous, but they really do occur and can be very dangerous. These lines can bounce and buck enough to hit another line, damage themselves enough to cause a power outage, or even fall to the ground. 

The most common cause of galloping lines is ice that builds up on one side of a power line as a result of strong winds. This buildup creates an airfoil, which changes the flow of air around the normally round line. This change in air flow can cause the power line to start to bounce. 

Once galloping starts, there is not much a power company can do to alleviate it until winds die down. This is why many power lines have objects, like twisted wire or round or angular pieces of metal attached to the line. These are devices placed on power lines to help reduce the galloping of lines and prevent potential danger.  

If you encounter galloping lines, stay away, warn others to stay away, and contact your utility. In addition to the possibility of power outages, there is a danger of the lines or other electrical equipment breaking loose and falling and of ice being dislodged from the lines and falling to the ground.

Storms at any time of the year can pack damaging winds, which can knock down power lines and blow trees and limbs onto power lines, which can cause power outages. The Safe Electricity program encourages you to keep the following safety tips in mind after a wind storm:

• When you see power lines on the ground, stay away, warn others to stay away, and contact the electric utility or 911. Lines do not have to be arcing or sparking to be live.

• Any utility wire, including telephone or cable lines which are sagging or down, could be in contact with an energized power line also making them dangerous. So stay away from all lines.

• Be alert to the possibility that tree limbs or debris may hide an electrical hazard. Downed power lines can energize objects around it, such as chain link fences and metal culverts.

• Keep in mind that a line that is “dead” could still become energized during power restoration efforts or improper use of generators.

• Never drive over a downed line. It could cause poles or other equipment to come crashing down.

• If you are in a car that has come in contact with a downed power line, stay in your vehicle. Wait until the utility crew has arrived and de-energized the line. Warn others not to approach the car. Only exit the car in the case of fire; and, in doing so, be sure to jump out and away from the car with both feet together. Then hop away while continuing to keep both feet together.

        Get more electrical safety information at SafeElectricity.org(link is external).

_{Anything that comes into contact with any part of the distribution system that delivers electricity to your meter can reduce the quality of power you receive.}

Tree limbs, small animals and miscellaneous foreign objects are the most common causes of those irritating blinking lights and reset clocks.

Tri-County Electric Cooperative works constantly to control as many of these factors as is physically possible. Our linemen conduct routine overhead line inspections to detect wind and weather damage.

Trees native to Missouri commonly produce as much as 72" (six feet) of re-growth annually, making them one of our leading causes of reduced power quality and outage. An aggressive, territory-wide Right-of-Way Maintenance and Tree Trimming Program is instituted to address this problem.

Small animals such as squirrels and even birds can ground out areas of the system causing brief interruptions of power.

If you need to have a power line inspected for foliage intrusion, simply contact us during work hours at (660) 457-3733 or toll-free at (888) 457-3734 and ask for our Line Superintendent.