• Born in Spokane, Washington, and has two sisters, Dru and Kim.

• Married for 30 years to Patty; father of Michael, Gary and Dena.

• Described as a compassionate, hard-nosed worker.

• Enjoys hunting and shooting.

• His favorite coworker was Doug Dixon who started him in the power line business and taught him the ground from the ground up — from framing and setting poles to installing conductors.

• His favorite boss is Fred Oliver, who trusted him to run construction projects and provided the necessary support to complete the projects on time, within budget and with no accidents.

• His father and many of his cousins work or have worked in the power industry.

• He can't live without his plumb bob for keeping things straight and a LoDril for drilling holes.

Early Years

I worked in the logging industry for about 17 years in Idaho until the industry was phased out. My cousin Doug Dixon worked in the power line construction business, and I went to work on a project that he was in charge of for Anderson Wood. My first utility job was working as an equipment operator on a 69-kV wood pole transmission line near Needles, California. It was during the summer of 1996, and we had record summer temperatures. Twelve years later, I'm now a project superintendent for the company.

Day in the Life

I'm usually up at 4 a.m., hold a safety meeting at 6:30 and brief the crew on the day's tasks. I then work with the crew to complete the day's assignments. Right now we are rebuilding an energized 7.62-/13.2-kV distribution line and are replacing about 260 poles and associated transformers.

Challenges and Rewards

What I like about the utility industry is that things are new all the time. One day we're working on distribution projects and another day we're working on transmission projects. Our crew also has the opportunity to construct lines with wood poles, steel poles or lattice structures. We work with energized and de-energized lines, and with different construction methods, from conventional truck access to helicopter construction.

A major challenge to our industry today is the lack of rights-of-way to allow for installation of new lines across the country. There's also a shortage of young, responsible people training in the trade who will eventually replace retiring personnel.

On the Job

My favorite project was when we constructed a 115-kV transmission line near Frasier, Colorado, for Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association Inc. The line traversed over a mountain pass in an environmentally sensitive area with elevations in excess of 10,500 ft. We used helicopters to install structures and string conductors. I'll never forget the first time I rode the skid of a helicopter to hang conductor rollers/travelers on a structure.

Working Storms

My most memorable storm experience was putting lines up and restoring service following a range fire north of Neola, Utah. It burned many poles, and we had to replace the poles and rebuild the line. My company's crews worked with the Moon Lake Electric Association to replace poles, run new conductor where needed and restore power in two days. That was an astounding feat.

Safety Lesson

We were pulling large transmission conductor on a double-circuit, 230-kV transmission line with an energized 230kV circuit on the opposing side of the structures. The pulling side broke and dropped the conductor. This particular section of line had a railroad crossing, a river crossing, a busy two-lane highway crossing and several energized lines crossing below. Guard structures had been installed, and fortunately, they did their job and no one was injured. We tested the pulling line and found it to be adequate for the job, suggesting there was an undetected flaw in the cable.

Looking Ahead

My work in the utility industry is as close to my love of the logging industry as I could get. I spent half my career cutting trees down, and now I'm standing them back up. I plan to keep on working in the line trade because I enjoy it so much.