…From Oklahoma
Hey there from Oklahoma AEP Projects! For the last month or so, Jobs 1732 and 1798 have been working on building an ark. Not really, but if this rain keeps up, we’re gonna need to. So far for the month of May we’ve received anywhere from 13 to 20 inches of rain! Our ROWs have turned into lakes and rivers! Despite the horrible weather our crews have been working extremely hard to continue meeting deadlines. Currently Job 1732 is a few structures short of clipping out to meeting their June 1st deadline. These guys have worked a lot of days and hours the past couple of months to get this done and we appreciate all their hard work. Also, Carl Bell recently joined Tom Mehlin and Randy Franks on Job 1732 and we’re more than happy to have him back with the AEP family.
Job 1798 has been busy as well. They worked two storms since we last checked in. They had a crew repairing poles due to wild fires in Woodward, OK, with Tommy Jinks and upon completion, headed straight to Sand Springs, OK, for tornado damage repairs. They are currently working on a little over 5 miles of line through the heart of Tulsa with 3.5 miles of distribution under build. About 1.5 miles of the distribution is double circuit with the rest single circuit. Bobby Jones and a crew of 5 joined them a couple of days ago and we appreciate them making the trip to help out.
And last but not least we want to thank all of our crews for their hard work and dedication. We’ve got a great group of guys and gals throughout Oklahoma AEP! Cheers to everyone and y’all be safe!
…From the Shenandoah Valley and Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
We managed to make it through an unusually cold and snowy winter for the Shenandoah Valley area. Locals here say it’s been many years since they had a winter like the one we just experienced. We didn’t dare explain to them that Irby has a history of bringing odd weather with them. Weather and scheduling notwithstanding, Project Supt Mike Dietz led the crew to a successful completion of Phase One. The first 24 miles of 500 kV with a 230 kV under-build is complete. Key to the success was the assistance of Superintendent Joel Votaw and his crew from Canada and Superintendent Rufus Killen and his crew from Maine. These two Superintendents brought their wire crews to Virginia and pulled, sagged, clipped and spaced a lot of wire in a short period of time. Phase One was energized on May 30.
The outage for Phase Two in September will be here before we know it. All the crews here have worked some long hours the last few months and are looking forward to a little more time off during the summer to enjoy the mountains and the history of the area.
Congratulations to Jeremy Compton and his wife Bethanie on the birth of their daughter, Irelyn Grace Compton, on March 11, 2015. The beautiful girl weighed in at 8 lbs. 2 oz.
Until next time, be smart and work safe.
