Headlights pierce the early morning darkness as other linemen arrive to prepare for the day’s work. Today is more or less a normal day—if the work of an electrical lineman can ever be called “normal.” Severe weather can wreak havoc on plans and schedules and change an average day into anything but normal. But today the forecast is hot with partly cloudy skies and the ever-present Oklahoma wind blowing from the south. The rest of Crompton’s crew arrives right on time. Ben Fairless, a longtime employee of NFEC makes the short drive from his home in Sayre. Michael Reed hails from Sweetwater, Okla., and J.C. Ely is from nearby Dempsey, Okla. Morning greetings are made as the team gathers with other crews in the planning room.
A coffee pot percolates like cicadas singing on a hot summer night; linemen filter into the room for the morning planning meeting. On a table in the center of the room sits a box of fresh Colorado peaches, brought in by one of the crews the previ- ous morning. Reed opens the box to grab a peach and the sweet smell filters through the room. Crompton sits in the corner reviewing the day’s work orders. A large map of NFEC’s service terri- tory, replete with pushpins, shows the co-op’s ma- jor loads and substations. The territory runs from the Canadian River to the north, west to the Texas state line, south to near Hollis, Okla., and east to a few miles past Elk City, Okla. The land is sparsely populated but with the increase in oil and gas drill- ing, business for the electric co-op crews is thriving. The team leaders coordinate their plans amid the normal small talk. The upcoming hunting sea- son is a major topic of discussion, along with chat- ter about the Sayre High School football team. In the midst of the banter, the crew foremen discuss
the day’s plans and coordinate work that needs to be completed. An air of familiarity permeates the room, the result of years working as a team to pro- vide electricity to the far flung members of their co-op.
Unveiling a New Day
Once the plans are made and the fresh coffee is downed, crews jump into their work trucks and head west for a short ride to NFEC’s storage yard. The rising sun filters through the sprinklers at the football field and casts a golden glow on the Beckham County Courthouse as NFEC trucks roll through a still-awakening downtown Sayre. Because of space constraints and rapid growth, NFEC uses multiple locations to store supplies. The co-op has plans to build a new facility just east of Sayre to consolidate multiple locations into one.
“We will be breaking ground this month on a new facility,” NFEC CEO Scott Copeland says. “This will give our people a lot more room to work and consolidate multiple yards into one location.”
At the remote yard Crompton meets with yard manager and longtime Sayre resident Ladonna Broddrick. Crompton provides Broddrick with a list of needed supplies. Fairless, Reed and Ely load wire and a utility pole onto the truck while Crompton follows Broddrick into the supply room and brings out additional equipment. Soon the team is driving east toward Elk City for the day’s first job—installing new electrical service at a Cudd Pressure Control yard. After a quick security check at the gate, the team is directed toward the back of the yard. NFEC construction engineer David Tignor soon arrives
to discuss the final location of the equipment and form a plan with Crompton’s team on how to con- nect to co-op lines.
Once the final service location has been deter- mined, the crew gets to work. Like a well-practiced NASCAR team, the linemen move fast and effi- ciently. Having worked as a team for three years, everyone on the crew knows his job. Nobody has to say, “You dig the hole” or “Install the crossarm on the pole.” The hole is dug in a few minutes and the pole is unloaded and placed on its side, propped up by a tall orange pedestal. Electrical insulators appear—seemingly out of nowhere—as the crew quickly prepares the pole for installation. In this case a transformer is mounted, grounding wire installed, and a customer-supplied meter box is mounted to the pole. Within minutes the crew is dropping the pole in the hole and using a hy- draulic tamping tool to pack the dirt around the 40-foot-tall pole. Copeland attributes the crew’s efficiency to the sound leadership they receive from Operations Manager Richard Bowdre and Line Superintendent Glen Tignor. “Their success and competency are a result of the solid leadership they receive in the line opera- tions department,” Copeland says. “To them, safety is second to none. It’s a positive atmosphere, and they make it a priority to always be on the same page. They work hard and strive to be re- garded as the best crew at what they do.” Once the pole is up, Crompton and Fairless move their trucks to the neighboring lot to begin preparing the “hot” side for connection to the new service; Ely and Reed complete the work on the new service pole. Aluminum wire is snaked out along the service path, about 50 yards from the current service. Fairless goes up in the high lift
Chad Crompton (left) and Ben Fairless (right) work to connect a new service to a live 14,400V circuit.
14
WWW.OK-LIVING.COOP
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160