For some PG&E crewmen, restoring power to Sierra, Foothills is personal
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. crews spent another day working to restore power to customers in the Sierra and Foothills after significant snowfall caused outages for tens of thousands of people.
The outages caused by the weather system have left many in the dark in their homes since the holidays, but it also has had crewmen working in those stormy conditions for days.
For many of those PG&E personnel, restoring power is personal. Tony Albright lives in Colfax and is also impacted by the outages. Even his estimated time of restoration is not entirely clear, explaining that his home is on a different line from the one he was working on while speaking with KCRA 3.
“Unfortunately I'm on a different line," Albright said. "This one has the potential to get energized here shortly and mine is not so fortunate."
Albright, whose father was a journeyman lineman for PG&E for almost 30 years, has electricity running through his blood. The son now carries the torch while candles burn at his home.
He said he has been working for weeks straight in not-so-favorable conditions. He described the first few days of repairs as eye-opening.
"A lot of snowcats and a lot of snowshoeing, which obviously slows down the process in restoring service for these customers," Albright said.
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You could say things along Haywire Ranch Road in Placer County became literally haywire after the winter weather.
Lineman Patrick Kelly is a father of two and an employee with PG&E for 10 years. His reaction to the damages to equipment caused by the snowfall was also stark, describing it as a "warzone."
"It's tough,” Kelly said. “I love seeing my girls and I miss them."
Atop a cherry picker, lineman Josh Hunter has a bird's eye view of the damages. He pointed to a wire that came down and got tangled up on some trees.
The father of a 1-year-old son has only had one day off in weeks.
"There are about 16 hour days,” Hunter said. “You get home, family is all in bed, come back out here and do it again."
Still, despite the struggles, some of the personnel working to restore energy feel compelled to power through.
"This is all our community,” Hunter said. “Not all are out of towners. We are here trying to help our own community. We all do enjoy this. We enjoy bringing power to someone who hasn't had power in days and in this case weeks."