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March 26, 2004
A DAY IN THE LIFE Keeping the lights on in Pahrump Valley
By BREANNE HUBBARD
The linemen at Valley Electric are no different than the "Wichita Lineman" in Glen Campbell's country song. There are 16 linemen at Valley Electric, including the outlying areas. Out of that number, six are lead linemen, which are basically working foremen. A lineman's workday starts at 7 a.m. during the cooler months and 6 a.m. when the weather heats up. According to supervisor Dave Valdez most of the crews work eight-hour shifts. If there is a job out of town, then they'll work a 10-hour day. Valdez has worked for Valley Electric for 28 years. Now that he is a supervisor, Valdez doesn't get to go out with the crew as much as he'd like. He only ventures out when they need an extra hand. Although he loves his new position, he misses working the lines. "This job gives you a high sense of accomplishment." The dispatchers were absent on Monday, so Valdez was designated dispatcher for the day. During the day, if the crew needed him, he would run out and help with little things. Carl Kaucky, Cynthia Yorker, Juan Changano and Butch Davies went out Monday for two jobs. The first involved a hot line, which is a power line energized to full voltage. A resident of the area had complained that the line was producing "noise" on his electronics. Kaucky was the lead lineman, Yorker the other lineman, while Changano was the apprentice and Davies acted as the groundsman. Linemen go through a series of training periods in order to do their job. Everyone starts off as a groundsman, and then goes through the apprentice program with four years of lineman training and bookwork. After the completion of the course, an apprentice becomes a lineman. Gaining lineman status doesn't mean there isn't more to learn. They still have special courses and safety training to attend once a month. "Just to brush up on stuff," Kaucky said. Before the linemen started their day, they did a quick run through on their vehicle's inventory and gassed up. The bucket trucks were maneuvered to make sure that they're operating properly. Each bucket was raised and swiveled to ensure mobility. "Flying the truck" is what the lineman called the test. Each lineman wore a long-sleeve brown fire retardant button up shirt with Valley Electric's logo sewn on the chest. They accompanied the shirt with blue jeans and boots. Accessories for the wardrobe were a hardhat and safety glasses. The crew traveled in three vehicles, two bucket trucks and a regular truck. The two-man bucket truck that Changano drove can extend to 55 feet. Davies took the single bucket truck and Kaucky and Yorker traveled together in the regular vehicle. According to Kaucky, usually only three people go out as a crew, but on Monday Davies was the extra man. "He's a lot of fun. He's a good, hard worker. He's one of those guys that would give the shirt off his back," said Kaucky. Valley Electric offers its services to communities outside of Pahrump. The crew travels as far out as Las Vegas and Fish Lake Valley. "We do a lot of traveling," Kaucky said. That morning, the first job was on the southeast side of town at Homestead Road and Thorne Drive. Before the crew took off to the site, Yorker ate her breakfast pop tart and filled her coffee mug. "Breakfast of champions," she said. During inspection, Davies' truck wouldn't start. While the mechanic took a look under the hood, the rest of the crew headed out. There are two things that Yorker makes sure she has in the truck on any given workday: water and sun block. Since they sweat profusely in the sun, "It's a pain" to try to keep the sun block on. Yorker is the only female lineman at Valley Electric and has worked there for nine years. "I love it," she said. In the truck, Kaucky and Yorker bickered back and forth and laughed the way old friends do. They have been working together for three years. They discuss the recent hike in power bills and how some clients complain that their bill is too high because linemen aren't reading the meters right. "Like we have control over it," Yorker said. Since the power line is energized, Valdez described the situation as "life or death. Can't make any mistakes." As the crew began work, their moods changed from playful bantering to serious conversations about what they needed to accomplish once on the pole. At the pole, Kaucky noticed it wasn't secure at the base. He, along with Yorker and Changano, put a new tie on the spike in the ground and tightened the pole's rope. Sometimes when the crew is working on the ground, they run into snakes. Once, Kaucky discovered a rattlesnake in the bushes behind him. They looked around to make sure they didn't see any wild creatures. After the pole was secured at the base, they prepared to fix the loose ties on the top. Kaucky checked his work order to make sure the number on the pole matched his work order number. According to Yorker, they were going to put new ties on the pole, because if they leave the old ones on "it'll vibrate and make noise." Before they were able to touch the live wires, Kaucky and Yorker drove down the road to the pole's switch, which is similar to a breaker, to change it from triple shot to single shot. This way, if one of them touches the line and gets shocked, it'll only happen once. "We don't get burned as bad," Kaucky joked. Yorker jumped out of the truck and used an insulated stick to flip the switch. Kaucky made a call to Valdez and verified the switch. They drove back down the road and Kaucky and Yorker geared up to go in the buckets, while Changano prepared the buckets with rubber cover-ups insulated to 20,000 volts to go on the power lines and rubber blankets. The purpose of the cover-ups and blankets was to "insulate and isolate," Kaucky said. The voltage on the line was 24,000. Kaucky and Yorker had to put on rubber sleeves and gloves before handling the wires. Each glove is insulated to 30,000 volts. The fingertips were stiff and without precision in movement, the linemen can drop nuts and bolts that they have in their hand while in the air. If they do end up dropping something, they yell "headache" so the men on the ground can move out of the way. The sleeves and gloves cover most of the linemen's upper bodies, so working earlier in the day in cooler weather is imperative. Both linemen blew up their gloves with air so they could check for pinholes or ozone damage. If there's a hole, the gloves will be unusable. "(The voltage) can pass through the pinhole and go through your body," Kaucky said. Changano stabilized the bucket truck by releasing four metal legs from the sides. The extra stability kept the truck from rocking back and forth, especially when the buckets were in the air. Davies showed up and helped Changano. Valdez stopped by the site to check progress. Once in the buckets, the linemen noticed that the pole was put up in 1963, which makes it one of the first lines ever installed in Pahrump. They joked about which coworker was actually a teenager at that time, and which one wasn't even born yet. If ever the linemen needed a tool, they had a pulley on the side of the bucket for the groundsmen to hoist items. When the tools weren't dangerous and the bucket wasn't fully extended, Davies tossed them to Kaucky. Changano tried to toss once, but it was a poor attempt. After making fun of him, the duty went back to Davies. Kaucky sang "Oh What a Beautiful Day" to Yorker while they finished up tying the line. He received chuckles from the ground and a grin from Yorker. When the first job was finished the crew put away the equipment and headed to Highway 372 and Barney Street. Valdez went to the office. On the way to the next job, Yorker stopped to use the restroom at a gas station. The linemen try not to use public restrooms, because people in the community call the office and report that they're not doing their job. The next job was a "system upgrade," Yorker said. The crew worked on dead and grounded lines, meaning that there wasn't any power. Their job was to cut the wiring and hang new switches. The switches were cleaned with a wire brush before going on the poles. "We're pretty fortunate today. We normally have to do this energized with all the wires hot," Kaucky said. Yorker and Changano went up in the double bucket and Davies went in the single. Kaucky acted as the groundsman. With Davies on one side and Changano on the other, each side had to give the right amount of slack on the wire simultaneously. Yorker supervised the procedure from above. The crew joked and called her "line mom" all day long. Yorker's license plate on her vehicle even says that. The crew tried to time their work so that they could take a break during lunchtime. Usually, they eat wherever they're working because it's easier. Every now and then, they are able to go back to Valley Electric to take some time in the air conditioning. Once lunch was finished, it was back up in the buckets to finish the job. Two jobs consumed the whole workday, but all agreed that it was better than reading meters. At the end of the day the linemen hang their hardhats and wipe off the sweat and sunscreen residue. They know they need a small vacation, "but it don't look like rain." |
