When a late winter storm walloped northern California, an IBEW 1245 outside line crew from Henkels & McCoy was called in to assist with power restoration in hard-hit Humboldt County.
Lineman Andy Dodd
The Utility Reporter caught up with the crew in a remote area outside Garberville on their fifth day of storm work. Twelve-year IBEW 1245 member and Journeyman Lineman Kevin Rust explained the job that his crew was currently working on.
“We have a single-phase line. We have one wire down. It’s a 715-foot span,” said Rust, the crew’s foreman. “We just cleared everything from the uphill side of the road, made sure the wire was going to go up, added about 50 feet to cut out a bunch of existing sleeves, and now we are dead-ended.”
Foreman Kevin Rust
Rust noted that, before they could put the line back up and restore power to the impacted community, a cross-arm would have to be straightened out. And thanks to his knowledge and expertise, he also observed that additional work would be required on this line for long-term reliability.
“We’ll be writing up a tag for an abundance of sleeves in this span for a future change-out,” he said.
Rust and his crew are accustomed to working in all sorts of conditions — but the ongoing storm, coupled with the exceptionally rugged terrain, made this job more challenging than usual.
In true IBEW fashion, Rust and his dedicated crew worked meticulously to resolve the outage as quickly as possible, while ensuring their safety as well as the safety of those around them — no easy feat in this heavily wooded area.
“Access is our number one issue up here,” Rust said. “Obviously there’s the snow, but once it starts melting — plus all this rain that we’re getting today — everything just turns to mud.”
“I tried to go patrol line yesterday but ended up [turning around],” he added, noting that the conditions and terrain warranted a different vehicle. “I had to get a side-by-side [off-road vehicle]. I don’t want to get a bucket truck stuck.”
–Rebecca Band, IBEW 1245 Communications Director
Photos by John Storey
Lineman Matt Hawkins
Lineman Andy Dodd
Lineman Justin McElroy
Foreman Kevin Rust, (right), and Lineman Justin McElroy.
Foreman Kevin Rust
Lineman Andy Dodd in bucket and Foreman Kevin Rust.