Vandalism, Snow, Fatigue Take Toll On Wwp Crews Repairmen Working 18-Hour Shifts To Fix Lines Are Left Exhausted
They eat while they work.
Their eyes are bloodshot and stubble covers their faces.
If they’re lucky, they can sneak a 15-minute cat nap in repair trucks littered with fast-food bags, wet clothes and chain saws.
They are the crews working almost around the clock, traveling the back roads of Spokane County in search of every downed power line they can find.
Before dawn Friday, Steve Plewman and Dave Salcido were cruising the frigid West Plains. At first, the Washington Water Power Co. construction representatives were hopeful. They thought repairmen could restore power to at least 300 customers in the area.
But when Plewman, 39, and Salcido, 50, drove to 16th and Milton just east of the Washington State Patrol regional headquarters on Geiger Boulevard, their hearts dropped to the snow.
Early Thursday morning, an unidentified man deliberately cut down an 80-foot pine tree that toppled several power lines and poles.
The lines ran to a main conductor that provides power for at least 600 customers.
Residents told Plewman and sheriff’s deputies they thought someone was riding a snowmobile. But then they heard a loud crash and their lights went out.
A description of the suspect was given but the man hasn’t been found. But his destructive work is still there: a jagged stump, a toppled tree and a tangle of wires looking like it was pulled from a giant robot.
Plewman and Salcido estimated that the vandalism would delay restoring power to the area until this morning. They weren’t able to work on it until just before 6 p.m. Friday.
“That really took the wind out of us,” Plewman said.
The heavy, wet snow that fell overnight Thursday complicated the situation.
“We don’t even know where all the lines are that have fallen,” Plewman said. “And not just this area, I mean all over town.”
Power crews are working 18-hour shifts to locate and fix lines. The tree-cutting crews who have to clear the area before lines can be repaired are putting in 21-hour shifts.
The job is exhausting, and it gets potentially lethal at night.
“You don’t want to start opening up lines at night because you’ll get fried,” Salcido said.
After seeing the vandalism done to the tree, crew members took another emotional jolt when they learned WWP co-worker Jimmie Dean was killed in the Spokane Valley responding to a report of a natural gas leak.
The 32-year-old serviceman touched a live downed power line and was electrocuted.
It’s a hazard they all face, and the job is even more dangerous when fatigue sets in.
There’s more to the process than splicing a severed wire and flipping a switch at the nearest substation. “Poles, power couplings, all kinds of new material have to be brought to each site,” Plewman said. “Most of the stuff we have in stock, but it takes a while to get all the material to each site.”
Plewman has been with WWP for six months. Before that, he worked for Inland Power and Light Co. for 15 years. Salcido has been with WWP for six years. They said they’ve never seen conditions so bad.
“This area is considered a moderate climate, and the power structures are designed for such a climate,” Plewman said.
“This storm is what you’d see in a place like Anchorage. I’ve never seen moisture collect on lines like this here.”
Three-year-old Devon Plewman called his father Tuesday at the WWP office to tell him their Indian Trail home in north Spokane had no electricity.
“He said, ‘Daddy, the power went out, when are you going to fix it?”’
The answer Plewman gave is the same one he’s giving to everyone else who’s asking when the power will return.
“Soon. In time, it will be back.”
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo