NOTE: I incorrectly denoted this story as “recent”, but this incident happened in 2015. My apologies for the mistake, but the warnings and safety ideas are always timely.
Poynter’s Al Tomkins recently reported on Colorado Springs journalist Eric Fink who was hospitalized for frostbite on both hands. Covering weather with temps in the teens, Fink had to keep his gloves off to manipulate a faulty firewire cable on his camera. The longterm effects of his frostbite are unknown, but Tompkins used the story as a chance reiterate the importance of staying safe in cold weather conditions. (Check out the whole story.)
Over the years the Tips & Tricks section of b-roll.net has been filled with useful info on weather coverage. Check out our archives…
Two 9-volt batteries plugged together saved my hands more than once during freezing, rainy, snowy stakeouts during the Monica Lewinski Story days and nights.
Cheers,
Dave
Dave… tell me how this works? Sounds dangerous. How long does it work?
Hey kevin,
The 9 volts snap together easily, heat up quickly, depending on their capacity, and provide good warmth for up to 30 minutes, as i recall. i used them as hand warmers a dozen or so times, in bitter cold, without any problem – with one exception. Make sure there are no coins in the pocket where you keep the attached batteries, because the coins will touch the connection and get really hot. So I’d say this heating source should only be used when no other heating pads are available, in bitter cold when numb fingers might prevent a shooter from being able to do the work. Does this help?
It’s so dangerous
I have seen explosions from this Don’t do it. On a campaign once the secret service emptied a plane because of two 9 volts touching each other exploded. Don’t do this!