TEAM FISHEL'S "STORM TROOPERS" HELP RESTORE POWER AFTER DECEMBER ICE STORM

The residents of Topeka, Kansas will not soon forget the ice storm of December 2007. More than 80,000 Westar Energy customers lost power as two inches of ice blanketed the city. The weight of the ice snapped electric lines and toppled utility poles. On December 12, a caravan of six bucket trucks, two digger derricks and 18 of Team Fishel’s “Storm Troopers” responded to help restore power to the city and surrounding area.

According to Kenny Thompson, Louisville Division Manager, all of the major utility companies share resources during catastrophic storm events to get the electricity back on as soon as possible. David Guy, Director of Outage Management for EON-US, provided contact information for Westar Energy. Thompson gave them a call and offered Team Fishel’s services.

“The crews were working in extremely cold and windy conditions,” said Thompson. “The thick ice created treacherous footing, which made the job all that more difficult.”

For many in the group, this was their first ice storm. Instead of dealing with high temperatures and humidity like they encountered during the storm restoration work in Florida and the South after several hurricanes hit in 2005, the crews had to deal with bone-chilling cold and equipment encased in ice. Each Teammate worked an average of 17 hours per shift as they replaced numerous utility poles and repaired the damaged aerial electric lines.

Thompson is proud of the job his “Storm Troopers” did.

“We will continue to seek opportunities and offer our services wherever the need arises,” he said. “Due to the outstanding performance of our Teammates and the positive responses from our Customers in these emergency situations, the opportunities for storm restoration work will continue to grow.”