COMMITMENT Working Hard to Keep Your Power On
Lon Lambert, VVEC Right of Way Coordinator
Lon Lambert came to work for VVEC in 1981. He was promot- ed to Right-of-Way Coordinator in 2006 where he’s in charge of brush and tree maintenance. “I’m well aware of what prob- lems a tree can cause,” Lon explains. “A little wind on the limbs can cause your lights to blink. Rain on the limbs can cause the lines to short. And an ice storm can cause literally millions in damage. We’ve got- ten really serious about remov- ing trees in easements. Serious or fatal shocks can occur if your children play in trees near power lines, or if you come in contact with power lines while working outdoors.” VVEC covers 5 counties with
22 sub-stations. The bigger sub-stations can take almost a year to remove all the hazardous trees and brush. Outage rates are dropped drastically when trees and brush are trimmed or removed. It’s Lon Lambert’s job to manage keeping your electric lines clear. “This has been a wet year so
it’s slowed us down, but so far 4,776 trees have been removed. And when I say trees, I’m not talking about the little 2 inch trunks. Those are considered brush. A tree trunk is at least 4 inches or more. With the bucket crews, 333,031 ft. have been cut
and with the mechanical crews 248,177 ft. have been cut,” says Lon. “I treat all our customers the same. We are targeting ev- erything inside the easement that will reach the line. We hope to get this in shape to make it easier to maintain in the future.” VVEC has 20 ft. easements on
their single phase lines and 30 ft. easements on the 3 phase lines. Customers need to put trees far enough away from the easement that the limbs will not encroach into the easement as they grow.
It is extremely dangerous for the customer to trim their own trees. Even some professionals can- not trim trees around the high voltage uninsulated lines. OSHA and the National Electric Safety Code require that tree trimmers working on trees within 10 ft. of energized primary lines be line clearance certified. If VVEC de- tects that a customer has been trimming a tree to avoid a line, they will remove the tree for the safety of the customer.
Pictured with Lon is Ryan Wilson (Foreman at Hardin Tree Service) and crew in background. August 2015 VVEC Power Circuit 3
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