Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 5, 1994 TAG: 9403070113
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
On David Witkege's mountain hideaway just over the top of Bent Mountain, on a ridge overlooking Franklin and Henry counties, it's also easy to get to the power lines - if you've got a tractor.
Or an all-terrain vehicle.
Or some great, big rubber boots and a lot of stamina.
Christian drove 14 hours through ice and snow Wednesday to help Appalachian Power Co. crews fix the broken lines that left 75,000 people in the cold and dark this week.
He didn't bring a tractor - or an ATV.
Until Friday, he couldn't imagine why a power crew would ever need one.
The reasons began to sink in when he looked out over Witkege's mountain, over the sagging power lines slung from poles buried deep in muddy hollows and perched high on slushy ridges.
"I can't believe those lines, how they take those lines right across those mountains," he said.
At least he had his rubber boots.
Christian's partner from Apco's Roanoke Division, Greg Barton, looked down at his own yellow rubber boots, peeking out from the bottom of his tattered, beige coveralls.
"They've been through three ice storms and a snowstorm this year," he said. "They're wore out. I'm wore out."
Barton worked 95 hours last week - restoring power to customers from February's ice storm. His crew Friday had been at it since 6 p.m. Thursday, searching for downed power lines in the cold and dark with the help of a few flashlights.
And that was before he trudged up the old logging road that wound its way above Witkege's property, straight up to the AT&T microwave tower, which was forced to operate on generators because of the fallen lines.
It was before he and Christian climbed over fallen locust branches, slogged through ankle-deep melting snow, and shared the dusty bed of an ATV with Jim Grindstaff's black cocker spaniel, No-Name.
Grindstaff and Witkege, distant neighbors on the mountainside, pitched in Friday where Apco's resources ran out.
With 1,020 workers on the road, the power company ran out of trucks. Christian and Barton were riding in a rented Ford Tempo.
That wasn't a problem at the start of their journey, at a utility pole on the side of Virginia 612, where two blown fuses dangled uselessly. Christian and Barton were part of a 10-crew convoy sent to Bent Mountain to fix the persistent outages, and that meant finding what caused those fuses to blow.
It could have been anything, Barton said. A tree hanging across a line. A pole snapped in two. A power line broken and dangling into the right-of-way on some distant country road.
About noon, the two headed off in the Tempo, craning their necks out the window to peer at the power lines where they wandered off the road and up into the woods.
The rental car bumped along just fine on the snow-covered, state-maintained blacktops. It survived the still-icy dirt and gravel country roads.
But it quit when it hit the muddy incline at Witkege's property line, its tires spinning furiously into the steep makeshift driveway.
With a chain saw, a tractor and an ATV, Witkege and Grindstaff helped the power crew finish the final leg of its 90-minute quest, clearing away branches and fallen trees along the way.
The culprit?
A utility pole, snapped at its base, deep in a hollow several miles up the mountain. A second pole, nearby, broke off at the top, another victim of this winter's relentless ice storms.
"We'll need a helicopter or a dozer" to replace the poles, Barton said.
In the meantime, his crew would have to carry in tools by foot, climb one of the poles and isolate the line to restore power to a handful of customers living below the break.
Work best done in daylight, no doubt. But until Apco finds all of its downed lines - and repairs them - crews will be working around the clock, Barton said.
"It's hard, but we think, `What would the customers say if we weren't out here at least looking?' "
Apco Division Manager Tom Jobes knows what they'd say. He knows what they're saying now, with every available lineman from here to Ohio on the job.
From his office in downtown Roanoke, with the bank sign behind him flashing a deceptive 48 degrees, he answered call after call from angry and concerned customers Friday.
"I do a lot of listening," he said. But he's not complaining. He understands exactly how people feel.
He spent the last two nights at the Salem Holiday Inn.
Back at his Cave Spring home, the power was out.
\ CHAIN SAW SAFETY TIPS\ \ Make sure chain is sharp.
\ When holding saw, make sure left arm is straight while left hand grips handle bar. Right hand should keep firm grip on saw, to prevent saw from kicking back.
\ If cutting a branch from a downed tree, try to keep the trunk between you and the branch.
\ Wear safety goggles or face shield, hearing protection, heavy gloves, pants and shoes and a hard hat.
by CNB