Linemen face down storm to restore power
By Edna Sailor
In North Dakota, it’s not a question of whether the wind will blow its how much it will blow and the damage it may cause. Linemen at Mountrail Williams Electric found out last week what happens when those winds are near hurricane force.
Jason Koehn, a lineman for the company, took a moment to explain what life is like during one of those storms. With winds howling all around, he and his co-worker, Chris Hill hopped into their truck and were headed for one or more of the 25 trouble spots. New Town, Tioga and Stanley were a couple of those locations. Now, driving down the road to get there is one thing. But picture being in one of the buckets high above the ground until 2:30 in the morning as crews found themselves doing last week. Koehn is positive about it all.
"When I first started nine years ago, it used to be scary in that bucket. Now it’s part of the job and we just do it. You never know what you are going to find out there so getting everyone on the same page is important," Koehn said.
