When Mother Nature sends her Worst,
Team Fishel Responds with Their Best!

Last year will go down in the record books as one of the busiest ever with four Category 5 hurricanes in a single season. If the forecasters are correct, the 2006 season could be just as devastating.

Hurricane Dennis made landfall in July 2005 followed by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. More than 150 Teammates left their homes and families to help restore service for six different electric utility and telephone companies in the ravaged areas of Florida, Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. This work lasted for three months.

"Crews were working in areas with extreme damage and limited access due to downed trees and buildings," said Charles Bass, Plant City Area Manager.

According to Bass, Fishel Teammates would be staged throughout the devastated areas where the crews would meet and receive their daily work orders. Approximately 20 Teammates were staged in a hotel when Hurricane Wilma made landfall. The hotel windows shattered and all of their belongings were soaked. Thankfully, none of our Teammates were seriously injured during the storm.

Once the storm passed, nine additional Teammates from Kentucky joined the crews already on the ground in Miami.

Teammates from the Houston office went to Gulfport, Mississippi to repair exposed ducts and cable for Qwest Communications. Damage from Hurricane Katrina was severe and Teammates had to stay as far as 180 miles away from the job sites. The crews waited in long lines for food and water and ate MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat) that were distributed by the National Guard.

"Our biggest challenge was to get a temporary cable placed along an island of land between New Orleans and Waveland, Mississippi," said Brad Dunlevy, Houston Area Manager. "We placed about 4.5 miles of cable along the swamp and put it in the water to avoid the railroad crews working there. We attached buoys to the cable and patrolled the area twice daily to prevent damage from boats."

Aside from restoring service for customers, all of the crews provided humanitarian aid in the areas they were working in.

Teammates were asked to help remove debris for homeowners who couldn’t remove it by themselves. Many residents had no transportation to get to the areas where emergency supplies were being distributed and the crews helped whenever they could.

"We gave out food and water to anyone who asked for it," said Dunlevy. "We had people stopping at our work sites to thank us for being there and asking if we needed anything. These people had lost everything and yet they were concerned about us. That says a lot about the human spirit."