■ OUC crews head to Hurricane Laura damage in trucks stocked with COVID-19 masks.
OUC crews head to Laura damage in trucks stocked with COVID-19 masks
A dozen Orlando Utilities Commission linemen headed to Louisiana early Thursday, bound for electric grids wrecked by Hurricane Laura, one of the most powerful storms to strike the state.
It’s a familiar routine for utilities in hurricane alley to voluntarily dispatch convoys of crews to help each other recover. But it’s also a new era, with warnings for more and bigger storms fueled by a warming climate and the onslaught of COVID-19 that utilities have tried their best to prepare for.
The tool kits on their 40,000-pound bucket trucks, stocked with heavy wire cutters, thick gloves and wrenches, have been modified to include the lightest and flimsiest of items: face coverings.
OUC’s line technicians have been schooled in CDC guidelines for keeping their trucks sanitized, maintaining distancing and wearing masks, and they have stocked up on surgical masks, cloth masks, N95s and bandannas.
In a late August in soggy Louisiana, the crewmen expect to be soaked in sweat, with masks quickly turning soggy and unusable.
“It’s all new — this pandemic is new to everybody. We’ve been practicing whatever the CDC has put in place,” said Spencer Barnes, supervisor of the Louisiana-bound convey. “This is the first time we’ve had to do covering. We’ve got extra. My truck is loaded up with them in the back.”
But, the OUC lineman have two key advantages, Barnes said.
They are accustomed to broiling in thick, fire-retardant clothing and many are in their
20s.
“These guys are pretty young; they are pretty used to it,” Barnes said.
Until now, the typical, hurricane disaster response had been to send thousands of line workers, logistics crew and supervisors to a makeshift and temporary encampment, where they dined, took breaks, got gear and supplies and received briefings in close quarters.
“Everybody is not going to come into a big mess hall anymore and sit down elbow to elbow and eat dinner — it’s not happening,” said Clint Bullock, OUC’s general manager. “The whole process has changed; it may be a little slower, but it’s all focused on safety.”
Electric utilities practice, plan and drill for hurricanes every year, and every year learn something new with an actual hurricane. For OUC, mixing hurricane response with pandemic precautions for the first time, Hurricane Laura may be an important rehearsal for a potential all-handson-deck disaster in Florida.
Barnes said under OUC protocols the crew members may be required to quarantine before returning to the utility’s workplaces. They will be away for a couple of weeks, with no set deadline for returning.
Hundreds of thousands of residents in western Louisiana were without power Thursday morning. Entergy Louisiana is warning its electric customers left powerless by Laura to hunker down: “Customers in hardest-hit areas should prepare for possibility of weeks-long power outages.”
Bullock said the dozen linemen can be called back at any time for a storm approaching Central Florida. They also account for a small fraction of the crew and equipment in Orlando able to respond to damage from afternoon storms.
OUC will bill FEMA for the expense of traveling to and working in Hurricane Laura’s wake.
Bullock said sending crews to help in recovery efforts is the right thing to do for a neighboring state. There’s also a practical payoff.
“We want people to come and help us,” Bullock said. “If you don’t go and help others, they won’t come and help you.”