Night comes. Rain and wind. Brownout again! You find yourself in darkness, in some awkward position. I keep a flashlight in my pocket at night in stormy weather, so no problem getting to the phone to call the electric company.
“It’s already been reported sir,” said the voice on the line, “They will inspect your problem right away if ever they can.” -meaning, don’t expect power anytime soon. But I was curious. I went out in the rain to look at the wires and poles along the street.
The problem was obvious. Two electric poles with transformers had come loose in the wet earth and had fallen into a tangle of wires between two other poles in front of them, forming a dangerous rat’s-nest full of broken wires live with power.
Shortly the repair crew showed up- 4 guys in a jeep. They went out in the rain for a look, and made a call for a crane. The crane showed up and pushed the poles upright, and one guy strapped a heavy cable on them and tied it a small tree nearby.
Then the smallest and lightest man on the crew climbed up the pole and into the tangled wires to look for the break. He had no expensive equipment for this; only his bare hands, a body strap, and one long glove. Very Dangerous.
He found the broken wire and fixed it, but no power. The transformer was blown. He climbed down the pole, wet and disappointed. He went over and talked to the others. They nodded and got back in the jeep. I thought they had given up and I would be out of power for the night.
But they hadn’t given up. Even very tired after two hours of dangerous work at night in the rain, they wanted to try something else.
They went down the street to the next transformer, and the small guy climbed up again, to test it and make a jumper wire back to where they came from. This was even more dangerous; it took another hour to do; but it worked, and all the houses on the street had power again. The small guy came down, they drove away to the next job.
I don’t know who they were, but people like this who won’t give up until they succeed are rare- They deserve our respect and all our thanks.
