Back-to-School Safety
The first day of school this year pulled at my heartstrings a bit. My lovely wife, who has been a teacher at Wells Elementary School for several years, reported for duty as normal. But for the first time in many years, we were not sending off 1 of our 3 sons for his first day of school. That moment served as a stark and official confirmation that we are now entering our empty nest era.
Still, it is impossible not to notice the increased traffic in our little town and local valleys as students bike and walk to class, parents drop off their children for activities, and yellow buses make their daily loops. It is a perfect time for a safety reminder.
It’s a good time to slow down, stay alert, and look out for local students. Please remember to stop for school buses when the stop arm is extended and the flashing red lights are activated.
There are also some simple electrical safety reminders to help everyone stay safe. Pad-mounted transformers, those big green boxes, are not jungle gyms. They contain high-voltage electricity. Keep at least 10 feet away.
Don’t turn your outlet into a lava lamp. Plugging too many devices into 1 outlet can cause a meltdown and create a fire hazard. Use outlets safely and avoid overloading circuits.
Keep cords clear. Running electrical cords under rugs may seem like a smart decorating choice and a convenient way to hide them, but it can damage cords and create a fire risk.
Ask before plugging in. Teach young children to always check with an adult before plugging anything into an electrical outlet.
Look up before climbing. While trees can be fun to climb, if they’re too close to or below power lines, they’re off limits. Power lines can hurt you even if you don’t touch them directly.
Remind children to stay away from downed power lines and immediately tell an adult if they see 1.
Wells Rural Electric Company wishes students a safe, happy, and successful school year.
A Word on Fire Settings
I try to keep to a single message, but with stories about wildfires ravaging the Western United States, I cannot help but comment briefly on how wildfire mitigation plans affect WREC’s members.
Parts of our service territory, particularly the South Fork, Jiggs, and Lee areas, are fed by moving power through NV Energy’s service territory. That means those members are impacted by NV Energy’s wildfire mitigation plan, a pact it has in place with the state to help avoid the devastating liability of sparking a wildfire.
Part of that plan includes what is called fast trip fire settings. This means system settings are much more sensitive to try to avoid anything contacting a power line from creating sparks and igniting a fire. It means more power bumps for more members, and events that previously would have been bumps are now becoming outages. Our summer has been so very hot and dry that these settings have been in place all summer.
We understand that the increased interruptions are inconvenient and bothersome, but we have no control over these settings. We recognize the importance of trying to protect our communities by reducing the risk of wildfire. We appreciate the patience our affected members have shown.
Thad S. Ballard
CEO