How APS restores power after storms
Arizona Public Service Co. crews explained what happens behind the scenes to prepare for power outages during the 2019 monsoon season on Wednesday morning at their Deer Valley facility.
Crews are ready to take on any outage that may occur during a monsoon storm. Whether it’s a power line or pole down or a neighborhood power outage, APS has equipment ready to take care of any incident and get customers and communities back online.
APS crews use equipment that includes various vehicles to help restore power as quickly and as safe as possible.
During monsoon season, crews are called out to respond to outages about 4 to 5 times each week, from the Deer Valley facility, said Eric Eagar, crew foreman in the facility’s maintenance department.
The process
APS works all year long to prepare for the summer season, performing maintenance and updates ahead of time before they turn into a problem in the summer, Eagar said.
Crews are on call 24/7. When APS is notified of an outage, a crew gets called in. They first determine what their job is and what material is needed, then they load up in the trucks and respond to the scene as quickly as possible, Eagar said.
Eagar emphasized that the amount of time it takes to restore power in an area is on a case-by-case basis. Best case scenario, it takes about an hour to restore power if it is a transformer that is usually found in the front of a home.
If it is a pole on the ground, it takes more time waiting for materials to arrive.
Once materials arrive, for one pole, it typically takes about 3 to 4 hours to restore. If it is a mile-long power line down, it could take 3 to 4 days, Eagar said.
Eagar’s crew consists of himself and two linemen, one drives the bucket truck and the other drives the boom truck. Additional help may be called in depending on how big the job is, he said.
The equipment
Packed into the “transformer farm,” a staging location for equipment at the APS Deer Valley Training Yard, stand four important vehicles used by the crews.
The vehicles include the boom truck, bucket truck, foreman truck, and the Condor, each varying in their responsibility to get the job at hand completed.
The boom truck transports materials and acts as a “transformer in action,” or mini crane.
This truck also has the ability to act as a digger if needed, said Joe Weathersby, APS supervisor of Deer Valley Operations and Maintenance.
The bucket truck accompanies the boom truck on jobs, transporting the linemen that are doing the work. This truck gets them to the location where the materials are located.
The truck carries a boom that can extend into the air about 45 to 48 feet, giving them access to the equipment that may have been damaged, Weathersby said.
The foreman truck is loaded with a lot of additional materials, driven by the foreman, who supports the crew each day providing materials to keep them safe.
The Condor, the largest vehicle on the fleet with a 200-foot-reach boom, is the most vital for specialized situations such as taller power lines, Weathersby said.
“It just went out last week to remove a tarp from a 230-foot” power line. If they didn’t have that truck, they couldn’t reach that stuff, he said.
“You can’t get that from a helicopter, typically,” Weathersby said.
Safety
“Safety is paramount here at APS,” it is part of their culture, Weathersby said when asked what APS does to keep their crews and customers safe during the outages.
Crews are given the proper training, ensuring they know what to do, when to do it, and how it should be completed in
any situation they are involved in, Weathersby said.
After the recent fatality in the company, that “hits home very hard to us,” Eagar said, “We follow those procedures, and sometimes it takes a little bit of extra time and that’s the way it is.”
APS worker Rick Castillo was killed and another worker was injured June 30 in a downtown Phoenix fire that left several buildings without electricity Monday,
In order to keep the public safe, APS works to keep the public out and away from their work zones, “reminding them to not approach down power lines,” Weathersby said.
What to do if there is an outage
All customers are encouraged to download the APS mobile app. The app provides a map that shows what the outage is, the area that it is affecting, the number of customers affected, the status of the crew and what time power is expected to be restored, Weathersby said.
The public also can view the outage map on the APS website. APS wants to ensure that all customers are also signed up for outage alerts, which can be done on the APS outage center webpage.
If you encounter a down power line, stay at least 100 feet away from it and immediately report it by calling 911 and then APS at 855-688-2437, APS communications consultant Lily Quezada said.
Weathersby emphasized that when a customer calls to report the incident, provide as much information as you can, so the crew working the outage can arrive “more prepared to fix the issue and mitigate the hazard.”
Be ready for summer monsoon season outages by creating a kit, which may include items such as a flashlight with extra batteries, extra cash, a first aid kit, non-perishable food items, water, a battery-operated radio and a phone charger for your car, APS officials said.
What APS wants customers to know
“We want our customers to know that when we are there working, we are trying. We are not trying to mess around. We are trying to get it done because we know it is hot and so we are trying to do a good job, but we also have safety procedures that we follow and we don’t skip those,” Eagar said.
“We try to move as fast as we can, but we are also trying to do it as safely as we can,” Eagar said.