By Rick Ryckeley
Fayette County Fire & Emergency Services

He said it would be all right to hold on to the end of the extension cord; he was my big brother and big brothers are always right. He said, "No electricity can go through the cord because there's a knot in it, and besides, the end is cut off so all of the electricity has already ran out."

I learned many lessons about electricity from my older brother James, the first of which at the naive age of six. I learned that you should never hold onto the end of a frayed extension cord because someone just might plug the other end into the wall socket.

At any given moment, day or night, there are over 2,000 thunderstorms occurring around the world, with over 100,000 of them being recorded in the United States last year alone. Since each thunderstorm has the potential of hundreds of lighting strikes, that means, at any given time in the United States, there are countless number of children huddled in their beds, with the covers pulled over their heads, scared to death.

What can you do to help them out and calm their fears? Give them something to do so they can argue with each other, this keeps their minds occupied, and they will forget they are scared.

Tell them that lighting and thunder happen at the same time - it just does not seem that way to us because light travels about a million times faster than sound. (They will display the same blank look they give teachers when they are asked why they did not do their homework.)

Tell your kids to watch for a flash, and when it occurs, have them count the seconds until they hear the thunder. Then, if they divide by five, they will find how many miles away the lightning occurred. They will argue for hours about who was right guessing how close the lighting really was or you could just let them sleep in your bed till the thunder storm passes.

The second lesson about electricity I learned from brother James was similar to the first; no matter how much encouragement you get from you older brother, even if he calls you chicken, don't lick your finger and stick it in the light socket of a table lamp.

A thunder cloud is composed of negative and positive charges. The top of the cloud is positively charged, and the bottom holds a negative charge. Most meteorologists believe that the formulation of ice gives the thunder cloud its charge. Others believe that when drops of water fall, the action of the larger drops falling faster gives them a negative charge, and the slower moving smaller drops become positively charged. (When the bucket of water over the door fell on brother James's head, he was not negatively charged he was just positively mad!)

A flash of lighting will last about .25 of a second and is a combination of up to forty two smaller strokes that last only .0002 of a second. Lighting is something you canít dodge, and yes, lighting does strike in the same place twice. It can cause sever damage where the energy enters and exits the body.

Significant tissues, nerve, organ, or muscle damage along the path of the energy flow can occur (similar to what happened when I stuck my finger in the light socket.) Cardiac arrests along with fractured bones, respiratory arrest, or even blindness are all side effects of electrical accidents. Lighting has the potential of being tens of millions of volts, something you want to avoid if at all possible. Do you know what to do before the thunder comes?

Late one afternoon brother James was outside cutting the hedges and I wanted to learn how. What I learned was that you need to be very careful when cutting with electric hedge clippers, and donít let your older brother distract you. When you wake up on the other side of the yard, with you arm numb and tingling, you will realize that what you just cut through was not part of the bush.

When severe weather is approaching your area, usually a sever thunder storm watch or tornado watch will be issued by the weather service and broadcast over the radio and weather radio. (A weather radio can be picked up at your local electronics store for about $25.) A watch means that conditions are favorable for violent electrical storms or tornadoes in your area.

When a severe thunder storm warning or tornado warning is issued, it means that one has been sighted in your area and you should take cover immediately. If caught outside away from buildings when the storm strikes, don't stay in your car. A car can be picked up and thrown by the storm, get out of the car, lie in a near by ditch and cover your head.

If inside, move to the basement and get under a heavy work bench, or if you don't have a basement stay away from the windows and go to the center of the house to a central bathroom or closet.

If a person is struck by lighting or energized by downed power lines, precautions need to be taken to ensure the safety of anyone trying to provide aid. You should call 911 and make sure the area is safe before you enter, check and see if the person is breathing and if not open his airway, (respiratory arrest is a main concern of electrical shock), provide CPR if needed, cool any burn with water and apply dry sterile dressing if available.

The fourth lesson about electricity I learned from brother James was as shocking as the first three (sorry about that) - even if you get a double dog dare from your big brother, don't ever stick your tongue on the end of a nine-volt battery. Trust me, there's a lot of stored electricity in one of those things.

[Rick Ryckeley is employed full-time with Fayette County Department of Fire and Emergency Services. He can be reached at saferick@bellsouth.net.]

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