That’s what I call…
A Day With A Lineman
#20 Grub Canyon Fire
Temps were around 95F that day, I was stuck in town handling stuff locally. At 2pm a fire broke out in the northern most part of our service area. Things around here are drier than a popcorn fart. The wheat is already changing, turning from fields of green to golden, nearly ready for harvest. The farmers have been running water non stop for about the past month or so trying to get moisture in the ground for their crops.
A few lineman grabbed our Fire Truck (a flatbed Dodge 3500 with a 200 gallon water tank on the back with a gas powered pump), a couple bucket trucks, pickups and backpack sprayers to help the firefighters as much as they can. Actually they are just trying to keep our poles from burning down. The only thing in this area is irrigation pumps, besides a few farm houses and and farm shops. But that can’t be downplayed at this time of year. There is also huge cherry orchard that is about ready for harvest and having water is essential. They could potentially lose their crop if they don’t have water.
Back and forth across town taking care of all the little service orders coming in, I listened intently to the company radio to see what was going on. The guys were having a hell of a time getting to certain poles. Even with a Side by Side, that north country isn’t a joke. Steep hills and canyons everywhere. Not to mention big sink holes that will swallow a side by side with ease. Going out there for an outage at night is an absolute nightmare!! A life ruiner is what we call it.
Well the fireman stood watch on the road as the fire was igniting our poles on fire. My brothers saved a number of poles that could have been easily put out by the firefighters. Instead a Lineman hiked up the hillside with a backpack sprayer and extinguished 5 poles. The Silver Goat is an absolute animal!! He stands about 6’3” and won’t stop until the job is done. An absolute workhorse!!
Then things got very dangerous. After the Head Lineman told the Fireman in charge that they were heading in to put some poles out. The firefighters decided to do a back burn. A few lineman had to haul ass out of there so they didn’t get stuck in the middle. That is some serious BS right there. Yet my boys kept at doing whatever they could to keep the poles from burning up.
There were only a few of us that didn’t go to the fire right away and we stood by waiting for a pole count and material list. There wasn’t much we could do considering the fire was nearly out and the boys were trying to get an eye on everything that needed replaced. It’s about 1-1/2 hr drive to get to the location, so it would not be cool to have to drive back because we didn’t have enough parts.
We showed up with 6 poles and a truck load of material and the other couple guys brought 8 poles. By this time it was 11pm and we all had been at work since 6:30am
Now it was time for a plan of attack to get these 14 poles replaced. Finding a place to start always seems the hardest. We split up into 2 heavy crews, strapped on the head lamps, turned on lightbars, spotlights and any form of light we had, and got to work.
The temperature cooled down quite a bit, which helped keep us from getting too exhausted. Digging holes, setting poles and fixing the damaged wire is how we spent the night. Actually figuring a way to get to the poles was the major battle. Steep hills and powdered dirt make it tough to get these big heavy trucks around. That powered dirt acts like quick sand. That’s why we own an excavator. We can dig holes and set poles with that bad boy too. Plus an occasional tow comes in handy to get trucks into place to make things easier to work and more efficient.
As the sun started to crest the Blue Mountains, we were setting our last pole on a section of line that will give power to a few farm houses and shops. The crew with the excavator was working on the main 3 phase line. There wasn’t much we could do with our equipment in the area they were at.
The 6 poles we replaced had been moved for easier access. Yet, we still had to climb the hillside, untie the wire from the old burnt down poles, and drag it over to the new poles we set. When it was all said and done we only had to add a couple hundred feet of wire to make it reach the new poles. If we hadn’t have moved the pole line it would have taken us 10 times as long to get the poles in the ground.
The old pole line was up the hill to the left in this photo. About 100-200 feet off the road
After we got some breakfast burritos delivered by our operations manager, it was time to head deeper into the fire area. There were a handful of poles that nobody had a clue how we were going to get any of our big trucks to them. The side by sides got close enough to glass them. (Binoculars)
Some of the poles took us an hour or so just to figure out a way in there. But the hour of searching saved us so much time due to the fact that we got our trucks in there. Hand digging a 6 foot deep hole with the spoon and spade takes a while. (A scoop and pointed shovel with 10 foot handles)
The weather looks really nice in that picture doesn’t it… WRONG!! We had winds blowing in from the west around 20mph. We were only driving about 5 MPH due to the rough terrain and look at that dust blow!! What a dusty $#!+ hole!
At times with the wind at your back, the dust stirred up from the truck would completely blind you. So you had to just stop and a 10-15 seconds then start moving again. Several times I had to used my wipers to get the dust off the windshield. Aren’t those wipers deleos used for rain…
As my crew found our way into the pole that had wire burnt to the ground, the other crew was one hill over getting setup to set a new pole. In order to get to there pole it would take you about 1/2 hour. Simply because the grade was so steep between them you had to go all the way around. What a pain in the A$$!!
Our company radios are really hit and miss in this area. So when a text message came in from my beautiful wife I was super surprised. She hadn’t heard from me for close to 20 hours. She just simply asked how things were going and told me that she Loves Me… I responded with just this photo and the words… “I love you too sexy lady, we are getting closer to energizing the line!”
She responded,
“You Nasty!”
30 hours into the work day and we are still chugging away, pushing through because we all would like to get home, take a shower and enjoy a cold beer… not in that particular order. Most likely the beer will come just as we walk through the door 😉
Here I am 2 hills over from the other crew adding a few pieces to the pole while my partner is grabbing the wire to bring it up. He just needs to bring the wire up to the pole and we can tie it into the insulators. We are getting so close.
The time finally came when all the poles and wire were back in the air. Next it was the 1/2 drive back to the point where we energize the line. I really wish I would have got video of a small bucket truck getting buried to the doors in powdered sand. It was too funny!! He tried to go backwards and he had all 4 wheels spinning and just sank. I was behind him and we were only 2 poles away from the poles with the reclosers, where we would energize. Well, he is buried and the excavator is on its way. So I took an attempt at a different route around the “road”. Hopefully this works… “When in doubt throttle out” I honestly don’t know how I made it around but I managed to get to the pole to energize the line.
With fingers crossed we hoped this day was over. 1 recloser held, then the 2nd, then the 3rd… all is good!! After a few meter checks we knew it was time to wrap things up and head to the shop. Everyone had power except for one of the foreman’s trucks. His alternator crapped out on him. HAHAHA.
It was around 5pm and all we had left was to load up the side by sides, excavator, hook onto a couple pole trailers and a little cleanup. Not to mention stay awake on the 1-1/2 hour drive to the shop. That’s always the rough part.
We got to the shop around 7 and before I headed for home I sent a text Mama Splatts and told her to set a pair of shorts in the garage. I wasn’t about to bring my funky self in the house. As I came through the garage into the house with just shorts on, Mama Splatts was standing there…
Then I went and said Hi to the kids. There response was pretty similar…
“DAAANG, you nasty Daddy”
Then I turned around and headed for the garage for an ice cold Pabst Blue Ribbon 16oz. DAMN that never tasted so good… welp I better have another. 😉 A couple well deserved beers after a day like.
What makes days like this bearable, is having a great bunch of Lineman, with positive attitudes, great work ethic, and a sense of humor. All through the night and into the next day, jokes and laughter and hard work made it go by fast. I honestly couldn’t ask for a better group to work a fire with. We all got home and sent Snapchat messages of ourselves enjoying a cold and telling others of a job well done. Now that is what I call comradely.
Nice Work Boys!
The next morning we all spent time taking care of the vehicles. Refilling the water trucks, spraying out the cabs and bins with the air compressor, and changing engine air filters… I’m gonna go ahead and say, mine was done for.
It’s time to shut the job down on this episode of A Day With A Lineman. No matter the time, no matter how long it takes, we will get the lights back on. Thank you all for stopping by and getting a little insight to the trade of being a High Voltage Lineman. Stay safe out there no matter what you do.
https://www.union-bulletin.com/news/fire-in-north-walla-walla-county-contained-grew-to-about-10-000-acres/article_6c8940ea-d373-11eb-83cc-ab1304ad88a1.html
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