South Huntington Students Get First Look at PSEG Long Island’s New Live Lines Trailer, Its Latest Electric Safety Tool

(UNIONDALE, N.Y. – March 21, 2024) It sparks… it flames… and it teaches electric safety. 

PSEG Long Island today officially unveiled its new Live Lines trailer, the latest electric safety education tool in the company’s growing teaching toolbox. With laughter, amazement and a few screams, fourth and fifth grade students at South Huntington’s Birchwood Intermediate School were the first children to see the Live Lines trailer in action.

The Live Lines trailer’s demonstration today was the first of many to come – teaching students and adults in a fun, interactive way how to be safe in various potentially dangerous situations that could be encountered any day.  

“Safety is our number one priority at PSEG Long Island and our employees are always looking for innovative ways to keep our customers safe. This Live Lines trailer was developed by our utility workers – the first responders on our team who work with dangerous electrical situations every day. They created this visual tool to keep the public safe by teaching electric safety education to young children, adults and first responders.”

- David Lyons, Interim President & COO, PSEG Long Island

Live Lines is a 40-foot-long, 15,000 pound trailer sporting a three-quarter-scale model of the electric distribution system, including high voltage wires, poles and items that can be found around any home or neighborhood. On the trailer, the crew sets up certain scenarios, including a live wire down on a vehicle, an aluminum pool skimmer coming into contact with an overhead wire, a squirrel on the electric line shorting out the circuit, and a wire down on a metal fence. They also demonstrate the lifesaving importance of properly inspecting utility workers’ personal protective equipment. Attendees can actually see electricity arcing and flaming in these situations and hear what happens when a transformer blows out.

“We are so excited that our Birchwood students are the first on Long Island to see PSEG Long Island’s new Live Lines trailer,” said Dimitri Bernadel, Birchwood Intermediate School principal. “It works perfectly with what our fourth graders are learning in science about electric circuits. One of the new mandates from the New York State Department of Education for elementary science curriculum focuses on energy and is called ‘Light It Up!’ It’s designed to use more hands-on, three-dimensional learning. For our students to actually see how electricity behaves fits right in with that concept. Teaching and learning experiences that can be taken out of the classroom into the ‘real world’ benefit both our students and educators. Our teachers also enjoyed seeing the Live Lines trailer too.”    

The Live Lines presentation aligns with a popular “safety show” demonstration performed at PSEG Long Island’s Utility Worker Training Academy in Hicksville. With a movable version of the required equipment, the company can take its show on the road to schools, camps, firehouses and events throughout PSEG Long Island’s service area to educate even more people about electric safety.

Along with this Live Lines trailer demonstration, which educates both children and adults, PSEG Long Island provides several educational programs for children of all ages at schools, after-school and camp programs. Tens of thousands of young learners have been educated on energy conservation and electric safety through these programs. For more information on the educational programs, visit psegliny.com/en/inthecommunity/communitypartnership/EducationalPrograms.

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PSEG Long Island
PSEG Long Island operates the Long Island Power Authority’s transmission and distribution system under a long-term contract.  PSEG Long Island is a subsidiary of Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (PSEG) (NYSE:PEG), a publicly traded diversified energy company.