EWEB brings live electricity safety lesson to Fairfield fourth graders
Live electricity crackled at Fairfield Elementary as fourth graders watched EWEB’s Power Town demo. The lesson focused on downed lines, cars, bikes and green transformers.
Fourth graders at Fairfield Elementary got a warning they could hear and see: what a downed power line can do. Eugene Water and Electric Board staff brought its PowerTown demonstration to campus and ran two sessions for students, using a table with live electricity to show the danger of high-voltage power in a way a lecture cannot.
The interactive lesson ran at 10,000 volts and is designed especially for fourth graders. EWEB says the 30-minute program uses live electrical components to simulate the real electric grid, giving students a memorable look at hazards around exposed equipment, downed lines and the green pad-mounted transformers found in neighborhoods and near schools.
The message was direct. If a power line falls on a car, passengers should stay inside and call 911 unless there is immediate danger such as fire. If students or families see a downed line, EWEB says to stay at least 50 feet away from the line and anything it may be touching, then call 911. The utility’s safety guidance boils the response down to one rule: stop, observe, survive and call 911.
Lance Hughes, EWEB’s safety manager, said the demonstration gets students to react immediately, which helps the lesson stick when they go home and talk with parents, siblings and friends. That is the point of the Fairfield stop: not just to fill a school day, but to send a practical safety message into households across Lane County before children are spending more time outside, biking, playing and moving through neighborhoods on their own.
The program has already reached 16 fourth-grade classrooms across four school districts so far this year. EWEB says all fourth-grade teachers in its service territory can request the demonstration, which is funded through the utility’s Education Grant Program. EWEB says it dedicates about $500,000 in grant funds to the four school districts in its service area for water and energy curriculum and activities, making the safety lesson part of a broader public education effort.
At Fairfield Elementary, the takeaway was simple and serious: power lines are not something to test, touch or approach. For Lane County families, the advice is the same whether the hazard appears on a school route, in a yard or beside a vehicle.
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