the differnce between up here and most other places

[Lloyd Smale]

yesterday one out of every 10 homes of the people living in the upper peninsula of michigan and it barely made the news. Not one penny of federal government money was sent to help. Lineman from wisconson and lower michigan by the 100s were here. Who paid for it? The power companys who will pass it on to the rate payers. Didnt even hear a peep out of our own governor. God bless those lineman that were out in that slop handling downed and even hot power lines while i was sitting warm and dry in my house. Wading though the snow and in places you can barely get a 4 wheeler into in good weather. Im a little predudice though because ive been there and done that more times than i can count.  Aint work for the meek or weak. They have to be professional heavy equipment operators, tree cutters and high voltage electricians and im talking up to 345k volts up here. Mostly they have to have a brain and use it because dumb lineman die. You get no second chances. No do overs and no committees to solve your problems. Most times its one lineman and a lead man. When your sitting in your warm and dry home bitching because your powers out and you cant watch your favorite tv show think about this.

[oldandslow]

Leadman? What happened to grunts? It's been a long time for for me but then it was a lineman and a grunt.

I know a little about lines down after an ice storm followed by a snow. Miles and miles of line down. The crew I was on rebuild the system in the little town of Tatum which was without power for over a week. The crew foreman dug out his climbing tools so it was three line men, one grunt, and a truck driver. The grunt and driver were older so I and the other lineman waked between poles ripping the downed wires out of the ice and snow. It was all 7200 3 phase so we got a wire in each hand and went along the line dragging a handline and taking turns climbing the pole to lay up with the other playing grunt. We were brought hot coffee and cookies regularly by residents that had gas cook stoves and the calories were welcome as needed them. Then we went out into the country and after all the electricity was back on we switched over to rebuilding the rural telephone system. We had help from around the country and needed it but when the really important things were back on they left. No government assistance of any kind was offered. It took us several months to rebuild everything.

It was only once this happened during my pole climbing career which was fairly short as I realised this wasn't something I would be able to do long term and found something that I could stay with and payed better to boot. One storm was enough for me. We have has some more but not nearly as bad as that one and I was only waiting for the lights to come back and being glad I wasn't one out getting them back on. Three days has my longest outage. A Coleman lantern and stove plus a wood stove for heat made it livable even if not really enjoyable.

PS: My daughter was born during the ice storm and I was docked a day's pay for taking my wife to the hospital.

[Lloyd Smale]

we didnt have grunts/groundmen. We had two man crews. One lead man and he drove and one journeyman that did most of the bucket work. Climbing was about split. But many times it was the man in the bucket that needed another hand so the leadman climbed. If we couldnt use a bucket and one man had to climb it was the journeyman. Other then that we occasionaly had an apprentice. But we only had one at a time in our shop so he was split between 4 trucks. Two buckets and two digger trucks. Until i was the crew foreman i was mostly a lead man on a bucket truck. Never did like setting poles. Id much rather do the hot work. Utililties like everyone else have had to cut back and i havent seen a dedicated groundman grunt on any utility line crew for decades. Some construction crews use them and use truck drivers but only on really big jobs. 90 percent of the time it was me and my journeyman. Only exceptions is when we had to set a pole and transfer. Then we would have two trucks together. Obviously there were cases when shtf and lines were down all over and we got help and would work with a couple other crews but that wasnt very often. We had 8 offices scattered around the UP and only the two bigger ones would have two apprentices at the same time. When i retired there was about half the crew size at each location as there was when i was hired. If we had an apprentice and need a new man they hired a journeyman off the street. They kept us barely staffed to get the job done and when shtf hired contractors or other companies sent there lineman. That was very rare when I started and now about every storm they have hired guns.

One good thing about storms was it bought guns and toys. We could sometimes double or even triple our pay check with one storm. Pay wise i couldnt complain either. We made more an hour then anyone around short of lawyers and doctors. First year i made over a 100k was 98. But i never felt guilty. Like you said old and slow not many people want to do it and fewer yet can stick it out. Wash out rate for apprentices when i  was there was about 50 percent. Many of them quit the first time they had to try to climb and we had them that even quit after the first time 55 feet in the air in a (censored word) bucket truck. Then there were the ones that really made you scratch your head. A apprentice couldnt do more the 480 volts with gloves till they had 2 years on the job then your progressed to supervised 7200 glove work. Never could figure why theyd watch for 2 years then quit because because hot work scared them. Youd think they would have figured that out. Funniest one was an apprentice that had about a year in. He was with me and my journeyman in a storm. Lighting was cracking everywhere and i had to climb up and give my partner a hand. The apprentice was on the ground. When the lighting hit he jumped in the truck and when we got done and back in the truck he told us to take him to the shop. He said no way was he ever going to do that. Another thing that washed them out was 345 work. You did that all with sticks not gloves but when you climbed the towers the static would make your hair stand on end and youd get tingling all over your body.

[oldandslow]

It has sure changed since my days. I have to say I have never missed humping stumps.

Our hotstick crew first got a small 1 man bucket to do 7200 and 14.4 work. Gloves for the 7200, hotsticks for the 14.4. We never got to use it and I was kind glad we didn't as it fell with the hotstick crew foreman in it and bunged him up pretty good but it was fixed and continued in use until they got a much larger 2 man truck. We went with  the hotstick guys to replace q 69K pole that had gone down in a storm northeast of Cross Roads, NM out in the sandhills and the lines were still hot. We got the lines loose, tied out, and the pole set and they attempted to hang the static wire with the truck but were having trouble reaching the pole and the other lineman and I put on our hooks and were putting on our tool belts so we could go up and do it by hand when the foreman got the lower uninsulated boom into the middle phase wire. I was walking by the back end of the truck and our truck driver decided to climb up on the backet truck which is an absolute no-no while the truck is in use. There was a loud crack and the truck driver was thrown for a backflip head first into a mesquite bush right in front of me. I dropped my belt and stepped over and blood was running from his mouth and his eyes were closed. I thought he was dead but before I could do anything his eyes opened and he said "what the hell happened" and I knew he was going to live at least a few minutes. There was fire going from the rear tires on the left side of the truck that blew where we were so I left him there to put out the fire before it could burn into him. He was very lucky that it went in his knee and came out his heel. The ambulance finally arrived and  could only get to an oilfield location a couple of hundred yards away. Slim said he would just walk to the ambulance and the other lineman, being quite a bit larger than any of the rest of us went along to make sure he made it. It was kind of funny as the ambulance crew grabbed their stretcher and started running towards us and completely ignored the two walking toward them. We were hollering at them to turn around as were the other two which they finally did. The truck driver later told us the ambulance driver was driving like a mad man to the hospital and he finally leaned over his seat and told him he had survived being electrocuted and dang sure didn't want to die on the way to the hospital so slow down. He was off work for 6 weeks and came back and seemed as good as new.

[O-mega]

I take it you guys had some lines down?  Didn't say what the event was, but figure it was ice or snow.  Yea, those guys are pretty good, most everywhere, even here where they get right on it when we get hit by ice, wind, or both.  Not too long ago had some weather, tornado I think, take out many poles.  Crews were on a scene almost immediately.  Probably called ahead of it knowing there would be issues.

[Lloyd Smale]

I saw two trasmission voltage screw ups. one on 69kv one on 7200. One was a tree trimmer who got his boom into the wires. If blew the tires on his truck and fried everything electrical in it. Luckily nobody was hurt. The other was a kid that was an apprentice at our shop. He transfered to another shop 60 miles from here when he topped out because thats where he was from. We had a big storm in there area and they sent me and my truck to help. We were about 3 spans away. Wire was broke and on the ground on both locations. His side was the closest to the feed. He was handling the line on the ground not ground and without gloves (as you know a big no no). A crew from wisconson was sent to close in a fuse three roads down from us and closed in our fuse by mistake. He dropped on the ground instantly and I heard a bunch of screaming and went over there to see what the commotion was about. He was still breathing but had burns all over. They sent a medivac helicopter to us and loaded him up. He ended up loosing an arm and leg and 2 years later died because his liver and heart were damaged too. He was a good kid and a good worker. But like all of us took chances. He just didnt get to many of them. He had a wife and 3 kids. We still stop and visit his wife when were over there. She is remarried and wouldnt you know it to another lineman i know real well. Hes retired now and is as glad as me that he can sit in the warm house when the storms come. I have to admit ive done the same thing he did MANY times before that. But after that happened i never saw another lineman in our company do it again.

I had one close call myself. We had an underground 7200 that we had to cut a new cabinet into. I had my journeyman go and open the fuse on the line so i could cut it and splice on elbows for the new cabinet. He was a journeyman but was hired as a journeyman and was only at our shop for about a year. I took it for granted ( I know stupid) that he knew the system. Well he open the wrong cutout and told me it was open. I didnt test the line but luckily something made me feel uneasy that day and  i put on my dielectric boots and used my gloves. Something I rarely did. I took the ratchet cutters and started cutting the cable and the ratchet cutters blew right out of my hand. Blew the end right off of them. If i wouldnt have been nervous for some reason that day i wouldnt be here today. I think God was looking out for me that day. One close one too was i was climbing an OLD 45' pole in a storm one time. It looked so bad my partner said no way would he climb it. Well i was dumb enough to do it and got about 30 feet up it and it went over with me belted in. Luckily even with my weight trying to pull it the other way it went down with me on top. It just bruised some ribs. If it would have fell on top of me it could have been much worse. Came close a few times cutting trees in storms too. Lineman cut trees in weather that sends loggers home and they dont cut trees after working 48 hours straight. It probably kills more lineman then electricity.   

It has sure changed since my days. I have to say I have never missed humping stumps.

Our hotstick crew first got a small 1 man bucket to do 7200 and 14.4 work. Gloves for the 7200, hotsticks for the 14.4. We never got to use it and I was kind glad we didn't as it fell with the hotstick crew foreman in it and bunged him up pretty good but it was fixed and continued in use until they got a much larger 2 man truck. We went with  the hotstick guys to replace q 69K pole that had gone down in a storm northeast of Cross Roads, NM out in the sandhills and the lines were still hot. We got the lines loose, tied out, and the pole set and they attempted to hang the static wire with the truck but were having trouble reaching the pole and the other lineman and I put on our hooks and were putting on our tool belts so we could go up and do it by hand when the foreman got the lower uninsulated boom into the middle phase wire. I was walking by the back end of the truck and our truck driver decided to climb up on the backet truck which is an absolute no-no while the truck is in use. There was a loud crack and the truck driver was thrown for a backflip head first into a mesquite bush right in front of me. I dropped my belt and stepped over and blood was running from his mouth and his eyes were closed. I thought he was dead but before I could do anything his eyes opened and he said "what the hell happened" and I knew he was going to live at least a few minutes. There was fire going from the rear tires on the left side of the truck that blew where we were so I left him there to put out the fire before it could burn into him. He was very lucky that it went in his knee and came out his heel. The ambulance finally arrived and  could only get to an oilfield location a couple of hundred yards away. Slim said he would just walk to the ambulance and the other lineman, being quite a bit larger than any of the rest of us went along to make sure he made it. It was kind of funny as the ambulance crew grabbed their stretcher and started running towards us and completely ignored the two walking toward them. We were hollering at them to turn around as were the other two which they finally did. The truck driver later told us the ambulance driver was driving like a mad man to the hospital and he finally leaned over his seat and told him he had survived being electrocuted and dang sure didn't want to die on the way to the hospital so slow down. He was off work for 6 weeks and came back and seemed as good as new.

[oldandslow]

We had a lineman killed before the bucket truck incident. It was simple job of changing out a transformer on a dead end pole at a rural home. Single phase 7200 line and a 40' pole. For some reason he climbed right up into the pot jumper with his arm instead of belting off and disconnecting the jumper like he should have. Guess his mind was somewhere else except on the job. The crew said it blew him right off the pole and he was dead when he hit the ground. They tried cpr until the ambulance arrived anyway. He was a little younger than me and left a wife and baby girl. This was the days of 2 way radio communication and we were to the far west on the edge of the caprock building a new line to an oilwell and had no idea that anything had happened until we arrive back at the station after work.

The worst injury I had was one afternoon in a very high wind running a three phase 7200 line to a new oilwell and we had to make a hot crossing over another 7200 line to get to the location It was th other lineman and the foreman up poles on each side of the hot line keeping tension as we pulled them up and I was dead ending. Every thing was doing good and I had my belt let out where I belted off on the top fore arms and was standing on the lower forearm that held the top of the pot hangers. I was ducking back and forth under the center phase bringing the out side lines up to sag evenly to keep the deadend arms from twisting. I had to face west as I did this and the wind, despite a strap, sent my hard hat flying off to the east and I kept working bare headed. The arms were slick with penta and just as I was stretched all the way with the tugger on the long side with that line almost up to sag my foot slipped on the slick arm. I lost the tugger handle and it flew back and hit me in the very cent of my forehead The next thing I knew was I I was hanging my belt bent over forward and I couldn't see. I got the blood out of my eyes and managed to skin the pole before the blood blinded me again and I ducked behind the winch truck and gt my hankerchef out of my pocket to wipe the blood out of my eyes when the truck driver acting as my grunt stuck an ammonia capsule under my nose which I really didn't need. At the same time the foreman arrived hollering why did I come off the pole. I turned to look at him and he shut right up. When I looked in the truck mirror to wash the blood off I could see why. I was a bloody mess. A trip to the doctor, some greasy ontiment, a bandage for awhile, and a raging headache which bufferin did nothing for and lasted about 3 days was the only damage and I don't even have a scar anymore. The first thing the big boss said to me was did you have your hardhat on, no how are you or are you OK, just worried if I was wearing my hardhat. I told him the wind had blown it off and it was about 40 yard east laying in the pasture when I got dinged. Nothing else was said then or after. He just walked off. As long as no equipment was damaged he was happy.

[Lloyd Smale]

ya i had some ignorant bosses. Many of them including the one i work the longest with 11 years wasnt even a lineman. He was college grad engineer that got that job when he was 24. He didnt have a clue and didnt like lineman much. I think it was that we did what he didnt have the balls to do. We nick named him docker because he always showed up on a job site with docker pants and something like a polo shirt. What really ticked him off and started a war for years between us was he showed up one day on a big job through a swamp that wasnt much fun. I kicked him off the job site because he didnt have steel toed boots and a hard hat. But truth be told it was because he pissed everyone off with his arrogance and the job was tough enough and the moral was getting pretty low. That sure was a moral boost for the guys though. One of them showed up the next day in his line truck with a pair of docker pants flying like a flag and another painted a polo insignia on my hard hat. that ass never caught on to that and i wore it till i retired. . That was one thing about lineman. It was tough but we had lots of laughs. It was comical too because one of the guys were in the shop an overheard him bitching to the regional boss about me kicking him off. He said the little worms face went pale and he said yes sir and hung the phone up and never mentioned it again. Im sure he was told "what the hell were you doing out there without them" We tended to have lots of bosses like that in our company. From what the guys tell me its even worse now. Guys get wrote up for about everything and moral is low and most of them just do what they have to. They even put a rule in effect where if you miss 2 after hour calls in one week because your not at home or in the area you get 3 days off without pay! Bottom line pal is you couldnt get me back there for 3 times the money the way it is now.

[ulav8r]

Dad worked at the local REA for about 35 years, mostly as a lineman.  Pulled call about once a month, I would often wake up of a morning and he was not there, had been called out for hours in stormy weather and might make it home that night.  Had two occasions when his spikes broke out of an old pole.  Had splinters and creosote burns on his forearms from grabbing the pole to slow his fall one time and the other he hit the ground hard before he could grab the pole, had a sore back for days.  Never had a bucket truck until just before he retired. Sometime after he quit climbing, he got called out one day to pull a dead lineman off a pole because none of the others were able to do it.  I once got to watch a lineman working the top of a pole during a lightning storm when I was very young.  Had two uncles that were linemen, and another that also worked for the REA, but not as a lineman.  He was good with dynamite and helped with stubborn post holes.  Sometimes it took three days to dig a hole and set one post. 

Never had any desire to be a lineman.