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Local Employment Marketplace Inside Sunday, April 9, 2017 •
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ON TH E LIN E Montrose Daily Press senior writer Katharhynn Heidleberg, right, gets a bird’s eye view of the new utility pole Thursday with DMEA foreman Ivor Ayers. (Paul Hurschmann/ Montrose Daily Press)
DMEA lineman ‘lynchpin’ of power supply By Katharhynn Heidelberg Montrose Daily Press Senior Writer
The first question is: “Are you afraid of heights?” Ivor Ayers asked it Thursday, as a Delta-Montrose Electric Association bucket truck raised him in the air, lurching and swaying a bit to elevate him above power lines. Ayers, a foreman and journey lineman, was working with two DMEA linemen crews at a site on U.S. 50, just a hair outside of Delta. There, the cooperative is rebuilding a line to increase load capacity and replacing aging poles. Existing wire was spread out to keep the energized lines out of the way — and the linemen safe. After all, a shock (or “electrical contact”) on a 7,200 volt line isn’t like what happens when a person accidentally sticks a fork in a toaster. “If you live through (contacting a live line), it’s going to change your life,” Ayers said, as he modeled specialized rubber gloves that are part of DMEA’s safety equipment. Speaking of that toaster — and other appliances, lights and heat — electricity is of course what makes it all work. It’s the linemen who keep the powerdelivery infrastructure up and running: They build, maintain and repair power lines. Flip and switch and have your home flooded with light? Thank a lineman. “I don’t think a lot of people understand what they do and the dangers they face,” DMEA Vice President of Operations Doug Cox said. “They’re facing danger almost every day they go to work. When things get bad, when we have a major outage or snow storm, when everyone else is hunkered down, that’s when those guys are working on it. “They’re out there doing whatever it takes.”
apprenticeship DMEA requires of linemen, who also must pass journeymen’s certification. “My brother is a lineman too,” he said Thursday as he, journeyman lineman Mike Kuta and others prepared to hang a transformer. “I saw him kind of going through the trade and figured that’s what I wanted to do.” Thaute began by attending Rocky See LINEMEN page B2
Satisfaction, brotherhood
A DMEA line crew lifts a new utility pole to replace the existing pole Thursday in Delta. The old pole and transformer have been in place since about 1978, according to foreman Ivor Ayers. (Paul Hurschmann/Montrose Daily Press)
Heath Thaute is happy to play his part in keeping the lights on. He’s more than a year into the four-year
A new transformer is hooked to a lift cable Thursday, awaiting its installation by DMEA linesmen in Delta. (Paul Hurschmann/Montrose Daily Press)