FrankenStorm coming

Looks like we're in for a major Noreaster. Sandy looks like it'll make landfall around the Delmare peninsula and combine with a couple weather systems here in the Northeast . they say it'll turn into a hybrid super storm that could make history. The perfect storn senario. Utilities in the Northeast have allready moved thousands of contractors to the coast. You can't rent a bucket truck East of the Mississippi right now. Here in western NY we're on our own right now. Heavy rain and wind, maybe 5 inches or more with sustained 40 MPH winds. Along the coast they could see 70 MPH winds. with the leaves still on the trees we're gonna get a ton of downed trees. Some folks will be out of power for ten days or more. Good luck everyone and stay safe.

Quoted from Steve S


"Been reading a lot of post the last few days from Lineman headed to the northeast to help restore power after the storm . I admire anyone who leaves family and home to go risk their lives to help others! One thing that's common in many of the post is guys talking about how much money they hope to make. Haven't seen the first comment about going to help others or going because of the Pride or love they have for the trade! Some even seem glad the storm is coming not thinking of those who will be affected by the storm,some will lose homes and property,even some their lives! Guys if we in the trade want to be respected or seen as Hero's we have to care about more than the money!"


This was well said, I hear no one going on the storm to help because it is our job to restore power....it is all about the dollar.

Utilities love the contractors! they're the first to be called and they get set up near the expected storm area. these guys are doubletime gypsies. They'll drag up on a dime and sign on with whatever contractor is headed out. They show up in rented buckets without a single piece of material. They'ved been bellied up to the bar since last Thursday on standby making doubletime. Meanwhile,,, the utility pukes as we're called have been home watching the weather channel wondering if we'll get the chance just to work out of town on our own system. These guys could care less when service is restored to the customers. they hope the doubletime will never end.

Being a service worker now I doubt they'll ask me if our co. goes but if it's New Jersey again I'd only go because of the money! Those are the rudest customers I have ever dealt with!!!

Been a lineman for over 35 years. Won’t be working anymore
because of illness. I spent nearly ½ of my time working for utilities the rest
with the contractors.



In my early 20s I looked at the trade as this great thing
full of camaraderie almost like the movie Slim (Fonda/O’Brian). By the time I
was 25 I was getting pretty much jaded – tarnish might be a better word. I had
worked for 2 different utilities before going construction. The 500Kv line was
in my back yard.



I worked a couple of years on 500Kv construction and the
money was great, hours long, it was exciting and we lost a few hands killed and
seriously injured. At the time I was going with a girl whose father was the
editor of the town daily newspaper. On night a couple of reporters cornered me
at a party at the “bosses” house. How could I justify the kind of money I made –
no one was worth that. We lineman – put that UNION workers were raping society.
To put it mildly I was more than a little shocked at the verminous way I was
attacked and started to realize that no one not in the trade cared about the
lives lost, the 14 plus hours a day often 7 days a week – usually 4 weeks at a
time before we took 4 or 5 days off. As a “kid” my friends were all enjoying
beach parties, water skiing, and with hormones racing – each other. I worked
and damn hard. My friends called me a fool.



It was not just the local newspaper it was all the papers in
BC screaming for linemen’s heads. It was a little confusing to me. I worked my
ass off, risked my neck as the job was dangerous and missed a lot of normal
life just to build a powerline.



I got married and went back to a utility then moved around a
bit because I couldn’t get training I couldn’t be by staying still – some distribution,
both O/H & UG, some transmission and went about 800 miles away from my
family area with my wife and kids because work started to dry up. Made it a
year before the right wingnut governments brought us the recession of the early
80’s. 4 years of almost constant unemployment – of course may RATs worked – and
lost a house, dogs, guns, boats, fishing gear, …… Funny I still heard about the
“pig sick” wages the linemen got whenever there was a storm – which was the
only way I was able to get some cash, often at 10 to 30 below or 1,000 miles
from home in torrential rain and wind. There were not that many storms though.



I ended up working in Europe, Africa, Asia, various places
across Canada and the USA – often not seeing my Mom or Dad for years.
Thankfully my wife and kids were resilient enough to do the travel.



I made a lot of money in my travels – a lot – but it was 20
years before I made it home to enjoy fishing and hunting where I did when I was
a kid.



I still heard about “How can anyone make that kind of money?”
but I just don’t care anymore. Once I threw a my rubber gloves at the feet of
some mouthy bitch – we had just started clean up after 14 days of storm damage
and for the last 3 days had been gloving 33Kv for 16 hours a day. I told her to
shove those gloves on and I’d take her for a ride in the bucket and she too
could hand hold 40,000 volts. She called me an asshole - I cashed a cheque in a few days for a
little under $4,000 for a week. Screw her and her whole family.



Sorry Groove. To me it is ALL money. I just happen to be
very well trained in what I do and that is because of all the travel I never
really wanted.



Over 30 linemen I worked with at one time or another are 6
feet under because of the trade and not one newspaper clipping even mentioned
that he was just trying to get electrical power to the customers. I did see one
once complain that a 10 hour outage to a large population was caused because 2
poweline workers were killed.

90 lineman from BC and Alberta just headed East.

SARNIA, Ont. -- Bluewater Power has released the name of the worker
killed in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy.

Mike Leach, 47, was electrocuted Wednesday morning while fixing downed power lines.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2012/11/02/20327086.html

Prayers to his family.