Power to the people

With temperatures below zero and wind speeds above hurricane force in some areas, power outages could be expected during last weekend’s storms. As it turned out, the goodness of compassionate, problem-solving Alaskans could be expected too.

As a resident of the Matanuska Valley, I saw the New Year’s weekend storm forecast and watched the weather as the winds picked up. As the business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, I knew when the lights started flickering, it was going to get crazy.

Many crews from Anchorage and the Valley had already been deployed to Fairbanks after significant snowfall and freezing rain caused damage to distribution lines and transformers leaving thousands of homes and businesses without power. As temperatures plummeted and the winds picked up, everything got more challenging as line trucks and bucket truck hydraulics are affected by cold weather too. As the weather worsened across more areas, ice built up, trees fell on lines, power poles snapped, transformers blew and the line crews moved from the Interior to Southcentral Alaska.

In areas where reinforcement crews arrived from out of town, local, retired electrical workers were called into service because of their knowledge of the land and local electrical grid. Utility support crews of mechanics, tree trimmers, dispatchers, administrative staff and warehousemen also worked to support the restoration efforts.

Days later, when the storms raged in the Matanuska Valley and Anchorage, the crews deployed to Fairbanks returned to help with new outages — some working 12 days straight, around the clock.

Throughout all of the weather madness, we witnessed tremendous community support as neighbors with power opened their homes to each other, offering hot showers or a place to charge cellphones. In some areas, volunteer groups have been digging people out of snowdrifts that barricaded them into their homes.

As electrical workers, we train so we are as ready as can be when emergencies of this magnitude happen. As residents, this is a good reminder we can do the same. With several months of winter still ahead it is a good time to replenish emergency supplies and make a plan.

To each of you who did your part to respond to the emergency calls, thank you. To each Alaskan who reached out to a fellow neighbor, good on you too. We take so much for granted but the real power to make it through storms like this lies in each of us to be prepared and to pitch in to help each other when needed, and Alaskans did just that.

Marcie Obremski is the business manager for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1547, which represents more than 4,000 electrical, communications, construction, government and health care workers across the state of Alaska.

The views expressed here are the writer’s and are not necessarily endorsed by the Anchorage Daily News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)adn.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Read our full guidelines for letters and commentaries here.