David Latona: Welcome to Co-op Conversations with DEMCO, where we talk about the topics that impact your power,
your co-op, and your community. I'm your host, David Latona.
Joining us today is DEMCO's District Manager Andy Graham and lineman Justin Andrews,
who recently returned from storm restoration work following Winter Storm Fern.
And that's what we're talking about today.
Welcome to the podcast, men.
Andy Graham: Thank you, David.
Justin Andrews: Yes, sir.
David Latona: I'm so excited that y'all are here.
This is the first time on DEMCO's podcast that we're talking about a specific storm,
what it's like from the perspective of the crews who are actually working in the field.
Today, you've just come back from working a winter storm in north Louisiana.
Andy, can you tell us where our crews were called and what that entailed?
Andy Graham: We went to Northeast Louisiana Power in Oak Grove.
David Latona: It's a beautiful place.
Andy Graham: Yeah, yeah.
David Latona: Northeast Louisiana. I hear there's a lot of action going on up there,
but I know also there were some other crews from DEMCO that went to Concordia,
but that's not the crew that you guys were on.
So what's the best resource that DEMCO provides to a co-op in need when they make that call?
Andy Graham: Yeah, it kind of depends on what they need, what type of equipment that they need.
In this case, we brought there were 16 of us.
So we had a digger truck, we had bucket trucks, we had our off-road equipment.
We bring a mechanic with us. It really just depends on what they need.
David Latona: That's interesting too, because I know northeast is a smaller co-op than DEMCO.
But also you don't think about needing off-road equipment in North Louisiana.
But tell me about that experience.
Was there a great need for that?
Justin, you saw some of that.
Justin Andrews: Yeah.
David Latona: Track equipment that we use.
Justin Andrews: I was actually on the track bucket.
David Latona: Were you? Okay, tell me about that.
Justin Andrews: If we wouldn't have had that track bucket, it would have been a lot harder than it was. A lot of their stuff
is off-road, and it's hard to get to.
If we wouldn't have had the off-road bucket, it'd been a lot more work than we already did.
David Latona: And I know that's great for us when we've got special equipment, but when we're going,
we want our mechanic too. We don't want to increase that burden on Northeast to say,
"Hey, we're sending a bunch of equipment," but who knows what could happen in the case of a storm restoration?
Once you guys are called, right.
So, DEMCO gets the call from the statewide.
Once they tell Andy, build this team.
Here's your guys. How does that work?
You guys meet up in one place, or do you guys roll out from your district offices?
How does that work?
Andy Graham: We're going to bring two from every office most of the time, which this time we brought more than two from –
Justin Andrews: Three at my office.
Andy Graham: We had three at his office. We're generally going to bring our newest,
best equipment. We don't want to be four hours from home and have a breakdown.
David Latona: Good point.
Andy Graham: So from there, we're going to get everything buttoned up at home.
You know, make sure that everything at home is good.
Another consideration, you know, like with this storm, we've got to make sure that our system is
okay before we can go work on someone else's system.
And that's not always the case. Back in '22, we went to South Carolina,
and we knew that there was no threat of ice here.
And so we went ahead of time and staged, and the ice came in that night.
But typically be it ice or hurricane, we're going to make sure that our system is in the clear before
we go anywhere. We'll meet up here at headquarters, you know, generally early in the morning and roll out from
there.
David Latona: Let's say you guys are caravanning up there.
You're going to stay away from home, away from your families.
When you arrive at Northeast Power, what's the boots on the ground scene there?
When you get there, what does it look like to you all?
Andy Graham: So in this case, we pulled up. We kind of had a little bit of a welcoming party.
You know, they, they all piled out of the office and came to greet us. So we get there,
and we met with Mr. Jeff, Ms. Norah, and just kind of gave us a briefing of what it was going to look
like, what we could expect. We're working on a foreign system that we're totally unfamiliar with.
So we're going over voltages. We're going over safety protocol, the type of equipment that they use.
Generally just what we can expect while we're there, along with what our sleeping arrangements look like.
You know, what does the food look like? What about material?
You know, that sort of thing.
David Latona: Yeah, I would imagine day-to-day life is very different during that response process.
Andy Graham: Right.
David Latona: So, Justin, when you were there and they said, "Here's your supper and here's your bunk." How did that make you
feel inside?
Justin Andrews: Well, once I figured out that we was going to have some good food and a warm place to sleep,
I was okay. You know, if we can get us a hot shower and a good comfort bed,
you know, we're okay. We can work all day.
David Latona: I know Jeff, the GM up there at Northeast was super happy to have you guys come.
He was just pleased. I imagine when Andy said they poured out of the office to greet you all,
that's probably something he had lined up. He's like, "Y'all, when they get here, we're gonna make them feel at home,
too. And that's great."
Justin Andrews: They did.
Andy Graham: They did.
Justin Andrews: They made us feel at home.
David Latona: That's great. And there's different things that you don't think of,
right? Like you got to take care of the laundry for these people for up to two weeks,
right? That's our response time that we'll send a crew for about two weeks at a time.
Andy Graham: Yeah.
David Latona: And we want to make sure that they're not worried about, they being you guys,
when you come to work at Northeast.
And then when we have guests come to DEMCO, we want to make sure that they're not worried about something
else. It's a meticulous job. It's a dangerous job.
We want them to be ready. So you've both worked hurricanes and tornadoes,
and now this is a winter storm. What do you see as the difference?
I know at DEMCO, we don't have as many winter storms as we might have hurricane responses.
So how is that different for the team, Andy, when they were responding to an ice storm?
Even some that may have been their first response, right?
Andy Graham: Yeah. I think it's different in the sense that we're dealing with pretty harsh weather conditions,
right? You know, in this case, what were we down 16, 17 [degrees] a couple mornings?
Justin Andrews: Yeah.
Andy Graham: You know, it was cold. It was windy.
Justin Andrews: Ice didn't melt for days.
Andy Graham: That's right.
David Latona: Oh, wow.
Andy Graham: You know, so the hazard is still there as far as on the road.
And certainly the weather is a big difference in the two, and the length of daylight too.
On ice Storm, we're still going to work 16 [hours], but part of it's going to be in the dark.
We don't have those long days like you do during the hurricane.
David Latona: I didn't think about that. We've got a limitation on the number of hours that our people can work due to safety,
right. You want to be fully rested each day.
But that day is a lot shorter in the summer.
No problem.
Andy Graham: Right.
David Latona: Dusk to dawn is when you're off system.
But that time is so different in the winter time.
So you've got to start in the dark, and you might be finishing in the dark.
So when you guys are working, you know you're boots on the ground working that outage.
The lines are down, the trucks are set up, you've got traffic controls in place,
which there wasn't a whole lot of traffic, I don't guess with the roads closed.
But when I think about how cold my fingers get in the winter time,
and I try to do something, it's almost impossible.
But I know when safety measures are in place, when you're wearing sleeves and gloves and insulation
to protect you from the electricity, it makes it that much more difficult to work in the cold.
So how does that compare when it's cold versus hot?
Justin Andrews: Yeah, it definitely slows you down a little bit. You know, you got a lot more bulk on you in that bucket.
You can't move as good as you normally can, you know, so you gotta watch everything you do,
and you're cold, but you're actually getting hot, you know, because you got all these big jackets on and –
Andy Graham: You will. You'll go from, you know, freezing cold to now I'm too hot.
And I took too much off, now I'm cold again, all day.
David Latona: Back and forth, right? I get a, maybe a good layer of sweat now that is freezing.
And when you're on 15 degrees, it's tough.
You got sun for a while, then maybe now it's shade again.
It can get really cold really fast and your extremities start to stop working as well,
right? When I want to screw that nut on that bolt in August, it's very different than in January.
Justin Andrews: Oh yeah. Yeah. Fingers go numb.
Andy Graham: When it would get to about, what did you say, Justin, about 4:00 in the afternoon?
Justin Andrews: Yeah.
Andy Graham: And that sun would hit a certain angle where now you're in pretty much in the shade.
It would start getting cold quick.
Justin Andrews: And you're out in the middle of these fields, and the wind is blowing 100 miles an hour, I think.
Andy Graham: Yeah.
David Latona: Oh, wow.
Andy Graham: Yeah.
David Latona: You know, the co-ops in the northern areas of the US experienced that,
but that was cold weather down here in Louisiana.
Justin Andrews: Yeah. It's definitely something we're not used to.
David Latona: Definitely not. I know we had our storm almost a year ago in January of '25.
We had 11 inches of snow I think, but it was so dry.
I think we didn't have ice issues.
We were fortunate that the outages were not as much.
So are there some things that are pretty much the same in every storm,
right? The trees down and the lines that have been damaged by wind or by weight or whatever it might be that has caused that
breakage. Tell me a little bit about that.
How was how were things the same as a hurricane response?
Justin Andrews: It was a lot of the same. Trees down, lines on the ground, broke poles,
pretty much the same work. Just the conditions, like Andy said earlier,
the conditions were different. You know, when you're working in ice,
it's different hazards. People fall in, you know, and you got to worry about limbs falling out with ice
on them. Had a couple of close calls.
Andy Graham: When you're working on the ice, getting out of the truck is dangerous,
right?
David Latona: Great point.
Andy Graham: We probably all fell at least once.
Justin Andrews: Yeah, I think our cook went down a couple of times.
Andy Graham: Yeah.
David Latona: I know that a slip and fall in the workplace can be just as hazardous sometimes as a limb falling.
Andy Graham: Right.
David Latona: And when you guys are in and out, in and out, in and out, on different terrain that you're not used
to, right. I don't have spikes on my boots to prevent me from sliding on the ice.
So do you guys know some more of the weather conditions from Fern itself?
Right, it passed through, and then when you guys were working, was there any more precipitation?,
rainfall, snow frozen?
Andy Graham: Yeah. We had one day where it rained for the better part of that day.
Just a steady, soaking rain. I think that was the only one.
Justin Andrews: Yeah. The only other issue we really had was it would kind of thaw out during the day.
But then at night right back it was frozen.
So, you know, slick again.
David Latona: Oh man. Yeah. So you get the melt of the, whether it be snow or sleet,
and then it freezes solid that night.
So that is another issue you have to tackle.
So I know you guys because of your experience you have worked winter storms.
So was there a difference in Fern, and let's say Winter Storm Uri that we faced in the past?
Justin Andrews: I think the difference of the two was the ice just didn't melt for days.
I mean, we worked on ice for, what Andy, a week and a half?
Andy Graham: Yeah, at least. I think, too, that just the scale of Fern.
Right? So it went from Louisiana to Tennessee.
And so that means that, you know, we're trying to get material at Northeast.
We're trying to get poles at Northeast.
Well, they also need them in Tupelo and Oxford, in Nashville.
That's with any kind of storm, getting material can be a challenge,
right?
Justin Andrews: Also the resources, I mean, the people, you know, people scattered out. You can't get as many people.
Andy Graham: That's right.
Justin Andrews: Office. You know.
Andy Graham: Yeah.
Justin Andrews: Or one co-op. You know, you got them all over the country.
David Latona: Sure. Now let's get a little more personal, I guess.
You guys are when you go on a call like this, you've done this before,
but what's that like when you leave the family at home, you leave your loved ones at home.
Was it like day three meltdown? You might call your wife and the kids are going crazy.
Or what's that like for you guys when you're on the road?
Andy Graham: It's good if you can get everything prepared and squared away ahead of time.
So this is the 10th time that I've been off working.
So my wife, she knows the drill basically.
She knows what to do. She knows what to expect.
I tell her ahead of time, prepare for me to be gone for two weeks.
Most of the time you're not gone for that long, but prepare for that. In this case, we were.
That makes it easier for us if we can have everything squared away at home.
We don't have to worry about that.
And it can mean that while I'm there working, I'm only worried about that.
I'm not worried about things at home.
All that's taken care of. I'm just worried about what I'm doing and doing the things that we need to do to be successful there.
David Latona: That's good, that's good. Justin, how about you?
Justin Andrews: Yeah, it definitely helps knowing that they can handle it at home, you know? I got three boys,
and they can get a little rough.
You know, I think I had to give my little boy about ten chances while I was gone.
One more chance, Daddy. One more chance.
David Latona: One more chance. That's all I need.
That's great to hear that preparation is so much a key in everything that we do at a utility.
But to even know that that kind of spills over at home.
And it does, you're right, Andy. It makes you feel better when you know you've made that preparation. You know, your loved ones
are safe at home. So when DEMCO sends crews out to help, what do you want our members back home to know?
16 of us in this crew were leaving a district somewhere to go work.
Andy Graham: The 16 of us that leave, we're leaving DEMCO shorthanded when we go,
right? That means that everybody who hasn't gone is having to pull a little bit more weight than they normally would.
But that favor gets returned so much from co-ops coming to help us.
And it makes a huge difference when we have, you know, something like a like Hurricane Ida,
right? And we've got all these people that came from all these places,
left their families to come help us.
Justin Andrews: Yeah. Also, the guys that we leave back home, we know they're going to pick up our slack.
They're going to handle what business needs to be handled and make sure the lights stay on.
David Latona: That's a great point. And I know that rotation comes around, right.
The next time DEMCO sends a crew somewhere, you might not be on it,
but one of your team members would be.
Justin Andrews: That's right. So I know that I'll be the one picking up the slack.
David Latona: So if you could tell DEMCO members one thing about a storm restoration like this,
what would you have them know?
Justin Andrews: Just let them know that we're going to do everything in our power to get the lights back on. We're not going to stop until they
come on.
David Latona: That's good. I know there's the whole crew of 16 there, and was it 7 or 8 that went to help Concordia?
And that's what their main focus is, is to safely get that restoration moving.
We do appreciate you guys for heading out and representing our co-op that way.
I know we heard back from the general manager there and the other co-ops where we helped,
and they were super thankful to have our crews go.
And I know same thing, like you said, it's reciprocal.
When we need them, it'll be great to have them come and help along with their equipment that they have.
Guys, thanks again for heading out and working long days in tough conditions representing DEMCO so well.
And thank you for listening to Co-op Conversations with DEMCO.
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For Andy Graham and Justin Duck Andrews, I'm David Latona.
Let's keep the conversation going.