Early Years
I learned about becoming a lineman shortly after I got out of school from a friend, and it just seemed like the perfect fit. My dad is a farmer, and I grew up working outside on equipment and with my hands, and I always knew that was where I wanted to be. It didn't take long to fall in love with line work, and it just seemed to come natural to me. I was the first person in my family to become a lineman, but now my younger brother is a transmission lineman.
Day in the Life
I started as an apprentice lineman for Duke Energy and worked my way up to journeyman. I recently moved into the reliability department at Duke Energy. My main responsibilities now are investigating large outages and finding ways to harden our system and eliminate problems that cause outages for our customers. My typical workday now consists of looking at circuits and lines that consistently give us trouble and coming up with ways to improve on our reliability. The major challenge I face is trying to increase reliability in a mountainous area. I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, and we have some rough territory and a lot of inaccessible lines. The biggest reward for me is always helping to get lights back on and help our communities during and after storms.
Safety Lesson
If you do line work long enough, you are sure to have some near miss encounters due to the constant variables you face all day every day. For me, one that really changed my outlook on everything was a near miss while we were rigging a pole into an inaccessible area. We had some things shift unexpectedly, and thankfully, no-one was in the line of fire, or it would have turned out way differently. I always had the mindset to be careful working primary, and the rest of it was, “just go get it done,” until this moment. It really scared me and made me realize there are a lot of other ways to end up injured other than electrical events. I think a lot of people take things like this for granted, just like I did. It was really my “ah-ha” moment and changed my whole outlook on the day-to-day. It made me want to step up, be a better leader and influence others to slow down, be mindful of their surroundings and never cut corners.
Memorable Storm
My most memorable storm moment was this past year during Hurricane Helene. We had nearly 100% lights out and were starting from scratch. It took a week to get a single light on in the county I live in. After working 18-hour days and driving home in pitch black darkness every night, we heated up the first breaker and part of town lit up. It was the most amazing feeling I have ever had doing line work. People literally came out in the streets shouting and crying tears of joy. I ended up working storm for over two months. We had some rural areas where miles of line washed down the river. The roads were also either really rough or completely gone, which made the working conditions tough and impossible in some areas. Some places were completely cut off to travel to except by helicopter. The areas that were hit worst were the most challenging areas to begin with.
Tools and Technology
Just a few of the tools I can't live without are an impact, side cutters, climbing gear and a good flashlight. There are some amazing technologies being developed and improved on daily for the industry, and it’s really exciting. For example, there is a battery tool for just about everything now. This helps reduce injuries and to be more efficient. We are using a lot of new equipment to help reach inaccessible areas that make work safer and quicker.
Plans for the Future
I would most definitely go into the power industry if I had to do it over again. It's a rewarding career that will provide a great life for you and your family. There are always opportunities to be creative and think outside the box. It's really cool to work in an industry that provides a service that improves the lives of everyone around you. My plans for the future are to continue working in the utility industry until retirement.
