Working in an elevated bucket while temperatures are in the mid-30s C., accompanied by humidity levels over 90 per cent, poses some challenges for lineworkers accustomed to the northwestern Ontario climate.
But the weather in Florida is proving to be far from an insurmountable obstacle for ten Hydro One staff who hail from Thunder Bay, Kenora, Ear Falls, Fort Frances, Geraldton and Nipigon.
Line supervisor Lyle Heatherington of Kenora says they have been working 12 to 13 hours a day since they took to the streets in the Miami area on Friday to fix the damage to the power network caused by Hurricane Irma.
"We take cases and cases of water with us every day. Guys are drinking four or five bottles of water an hour, and Gatorade and everything else," he said in a telephone interview Monday with Tbnewswatch.com.
"You're absolutely drenched within ten minutes of working," Heatherington said.
The northwestern Ontario crews were initially assigned to the restoration of primary electrical circuits, working with downed high-voltage power lines tangled up in trees.
Heatherington said they're moving on to repairing secondary lines and restoring power to individual customers next.
"Whenever we find the location we are to be at, we get there and find all the conductors on the ground. Lots of big palm trees just smashed everything to the ground."
Florida residents are reacting strongly to the contributions from the Ontario crews.
"The interaction here is just incredible," Heatherington said. "As soon as we pull on to their street, they come running out of the house and they're cheering for Canada being here. It's unbelievable."
It's expected the regional crews will be in Florida for at least another week, although repairs to the power infrastructure seem to be happening at a good pace.
Heatherington said the host utility, Florida Power and Light has shown itself to be very efficient.
"With the mass devastation across this whole state, it is really surprising how fast FPL got organized. In particular, the one woman we've have been dealing with here. She's been amazing, keeping everyone organized and keeping track of where everyone is. With the amount of people that she has to deal with, I don't know how she keeps up," Heatherington observed.
As they waited Monday afternoon for their next assignment, the crews were conducting a followup sweep of the district they had been working in to make sure they hadn't bypassed anyone.
"We need to go through and physically check all the lines to make sure we haven't missed an individual customer," Heatherington explained. "There's a language barrier here. Pretty well everyone speaks Spanish, so lots of times you have to go around the neighbourhood to try to find an interpreter."
He's been impressed, however, by the positive attitude local residents are able to demonstrate, considering the turmoil caused by the hurricane.
Although the crews all volunteered for assignment to Florida at FPL's expense, that attitude and gratitude demonstrated by the people of Miami go a long way toward making the exhausting work rewarding.
"It certainly makes our crews want to put in the effort to get the power back on for them," Heatherington said.
