MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WKRN) – Utility companies are now reminding and warning residents of the safety hazards seen at electrical substations, thanks to Pokémon Go.
“I don’t know how many I caught today, but I got a lot,” said Corbin Jones.
On Tuesday Corbin and his mom Vikki spent the day at Centennial Park, a popular location for Pokémon Go players, but the park isn’t the only place they go hunting for Pokémon.
“I like the historical sites because it has really gotten him into it,” said Vikki Jones. “We have gone to battlegrounds and there are a lot of things there for him to learn.”
The game tracks your movement using a GPS map and then randomly has characters known as Pokémon pop up on the screen.
Sometimes they can be found at historical places, but most of the time it is random.
“It gets people to go out, but it gets people interested in their local area versus staying inside and being on Google,” said Pokémon Go player Kyle Cohee.
But if you aren’t careful, it can be dangerous.
“We do know that there have been some utility companies across the nation that have had folks go into their substations,” said Josh Clendenen, spokesperson for Middle Tennessee Electric.
Clendenen says some of the Pokémon are popping up in locations that are off limits and even dangerous and sometimes that means inside substations.
“If you enter a substation there are so many hazards in there, you can get shocked and ultimately killed or you can get arrested,” said Clendenen.
That’s why the company made sure to warn people.
“Recently, we had to put out some information about substation safety and power line safety reminding folks that as you are out hunting do it safely,” Clendenen told News 2.
As for Vikki Jones and her son they will keep on hunting Pokémon, but they will make sure they don’t hunt any Pokémon in dangerous places.
“It scares me because a substation has a lot of power and they can get electrocuted very easy, they don’t know what they are touching,” said Jones.
Middle Tennessee Electric says they have not had anyone enter a substation yet but wanted to make sure people know the dangers.