Utility linemen like Mike Giles of Boothbay have been in high demand on the East Coast post-Hurricane Sandy. After working on lines in Maine, Giles traveled to New York November 1 to help restore power there. What Giles didn't know was he would be one of 10,000 linemen from 47 states, who would be working to turn on Long Island's lights.

After retiring from Central Maine Power for one week in 2009, Giles went to work for On Target.

On Target is a subcontractor used by utilities companies including CMP, Long Island Light and Power (LIPA) and New York State Electric and Gas (NSEG). On Target began receiving calls for aid from Maine, New York and New Jersey October 26, in anticipation of lost power due to the hurricane.

For the first three days of his assignment, October 29-31, he worked on lines in Maine before heading to Putnam County, Brewster, New York and then on to Bethpage, Long Island. Giles said they had been told 500 utility poles had been reported broken in Brewster. He was in Brewster for one week. During that time, the hours were long: 17 hours on and 7 off.

Utility trucks were staged in a Home Depot parking lot and crews consisted of 15 bucket trucks that were divided up between supervisors on a crew. Giles said On Target had sent 12 digger trucks ahead to begin work. Giles' crew had three supervisors, including himself. One super took six buckets with him. They were assigned substations to work on.

One morning at breakfast, two Greyhound buses rolled into the staging area with linemen from Alaska who had just come from Long Island.

Giles said the Alaskan crew had traveled by cargo plane, with buckets and other equipment, to help restore power on Long Island where 2,000 utility poles were reported broken.

Bethpage, Long Island

Giles worked 16-hour days in the Township of Bethpage in Long Island. Utility trucks parked in the staging area of the Nassau Coliseum parking lot, just over five miles from Bethpage.

After being debriefed, linemen and supervisors went to an area FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) had set up with large tents for meals and tractor trailers for showering.

Line workers were bussed to another FEMA area where non-unisex tents were set up for sleeping, military barracks-style. Giles' tent held 150 to 180 cots and the one next to him held 200.

Giles said each crew was assigned a “bird dog;” an individual familiar with the areas being worked in and the shortcuts within them. They had so many linemen,  once a substation was cleaned up, crews were moved.
“FEMA was really on top of it,” Giles said. “They were very organized. They fed us very well and the food was really good.”

Despite having 10,000 linemen on Long Island, the work could not be completed as quickly as it could have in another location. On Target had 11 or 12 digger trucks, plus what other companies had there, but the process of replacing broken utility poles and rewiring them was slow due to limited access.

“All the primary wire was behind houses in the backyards. Aesthetically the streets looked very nice, but if you've got a power line seven or eight poles long, you can't get a bucket truck to it and limits the amount of maintenance that can be done because you can't do that by climbing,” Giles said. “We had to put the wire on hooks and bring it up.

“If all of Long Island is like that, I can see why it is taking so long to restore power. I know people don't like to see the lines on the street, but you need to be able to access the poles – it's a necessary evil.”

Giles said he saw some unique equipment brought by crews from Colorado – remote-controlled mini-digger trucks with winches and pole-setting capabilities. One was on rubber tires and the other on bulldozer tracks and had the capability to set a 40-foot pole and hang a transformer.

Giles said some trees were down on houses or cars, but, most of the trees were on the wires. He didn't see the devastation on Long Island that other utility crews did.

Giles said homeowners and their families would come out of their homes to talk to them and were pleasant for the most part.

“People were happy to see us. They would come out of their houses very upset with how long they had gone with no power and the devastation in general,” Giles said. “Little kids would come out and watch us working. When we did restore power, everyone came running back out of their houses cheering and the kids would be jumping up and down … it was a good feeling,” Giles said.

One homeowner offered a lineman in Giles' crew his Mercedes convertible. The lineman had commented on what a good-looking car it was. The owner said if the lineman got his power back on, he could drive it away.

“We laughed about it, but, I think he was probably serious.” Giles said.

Giles returned to Boothbay November 13.