As farm equipment grows in size, FortisAlberta wants to make sure you know where the lines are

As farmers hit the fields this spring, some are finishing up seeding while others might still need to take off what was left from last year.

Either way, FortisAlberta wants farmers to take extra precaution around power lines, and make sure you know the exact height of your equipment if you're transporting it on public roads so you don’t hit a part of their 124,000km worth of power lines located across the province.

Corporate Communications Advisor for FortisAlberta Mona Bartsoff, says it's not just farmers who need to be cautious around power lines, even though the height of many pieces of equipment have doubled since the 50's, whereas the height of power lines remains the same.

“Certainly farm equipment is one of the industries that we keep an eye on, but it’s really been largely, I would say, transportation and construction that have been the two other industries that are concerning to us. In fact, the number one piece of equipment that contacts our system, is the track hoe.”

With over 20 pieces of farm equipment already coming into contact with power lines in Alberta this year, FortisAlberta wants to remind those hauling large equipment to take heed, and remember that anything over 5.3 meters in height needs a Fortis escort.

Bob Davidson owns and operates Moon Heavy Hauling, which tows farm equipment all across North America, and says hauling in Alberta is easier than most places, thanks in part to our high load corridor.

“We’re lucky, we’ve got wide load corridors, or high load corridors too, and that really helps us. I’ve had the farmer come out when we’ve got a low wire, he just brings his tractor out, we wing it down and we get the equipment into the yard, but that’s rare, I’m usually in pretty good shape.”

As farm equipment continues to increase in size while the height of power lines remains the same, Davidson says new technology is helping to make his job safer.

“The machinery is getting bigger, but they are making it lower in a lot of cases too. They might go a little wider, but instead of four sections, they’ll have five sections to tuck it down. And John Deere’s, they’ve got another system, once I’m hooked on to it, I can hook my hydraulics up to it and I can bring it down another nine inches.”

Davidson has been driving around the prairies since the late 70’s, so by now he has a pretty good idea where he can and where he can’t go with a wide load.

Since the farm equipment he tows doesn’t have brakes, he can only safely travel between 30-50km an hour, which is why it’s so important for other drivers to slow down, and give wide loads plenty of room to operate.

He says if he’s not familiar with the area, he calls the farmer to meet him closer to the main roads, and help guide him to their property. He also utilizes a pilot vehicle whenever necessary to help get him through trickier situations, like temporarily closing narrow bridges or roadways to allow room for the wide load to go through, and spotting any low-hanging power lines in advance.

Davidson says he hears about accidents and collisions occurring every year with large loads simply because other drivers are not paying attention, or errors on the part of the inexperienced wide load driver or the farmers themselves.

He talks about a collision that occurred just last month where he was called to for assistance, which happened on highway 575 heading north out of Drumheller. Located inside a valley, the dinosaur-loving community can make it tricky to move wide loads since they often have to shut down a long stretch of highway leading out of the valley in order to safely move their equipment up the hill.

“One farmer had to move a piece of equipment from one side of the valley to the other, and he’s been farming for 35 years but never had to go up and down the hill in and out of the valley with farm equipment. So it only takes ten minutes with a piece of equipment, so he thought he’d chance it without a pilot vehicle to close down the hill first. Well, a UFA tanker truck, luckily empty, was coming down as the farmer was going up, and bam. Luckily no one was seriously hurt, but when I got there I saw the farmer’s parents in a pick-up on the side of the road watching. I said to him, ‘Why didn’t you get them to close the road?!’ There’s no excuse for that.”

To check out an updated safety plan farmers or anyone else who hauls wide loads would like to donate, you can click here to go to fortisalberta.com.