APS crews ready for Arizona’s monsoon season

PHOENIX — Monsoon season is here and Arizona Public Service is preparing for the storms.

“If we see a storm coming there’s times we’ll let some of our crews go home and reset their clock,” APS Operations Planner Riley Burdick told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Wednesday. “Keep one crew on day side and then we have 24 hour coverage when it comes to restoring power.”

APS crews gave KTAR News a behind-the-scenes look at the equipment that helps them restore power quickly and safely, including “The Condor,” a super-sized bucket truck, and their “transformer farm.”

APS Supervisor Joe Weathersby demonstrated the use of their Condor truck used by some of the most skilled Journeyman linemen on the job.

“It’s a very specialized piece of equipment… this truck can reach spots some of our smaller trucks cannot,” Weathersby said.

Crews working with the Condor truck describe their job as anything but routine. They say the calls are always different.

Here’s a quick glimpse of what the climb to 202 feet looks like from @apsFYI’s Condor Bucket Truck. @KTAR923 pic.twitter.com/Ip1l6GBK6T

— Ali Vetnar (@Ali_Vetnar) July 24, 2019

“Transmission guys are a very specialized outfit. But just last week, they were called out remove a huge blue tarp from a 230,000 volt line. They used the Condor to access the tarp,” Weathersby said.

They said if the tarp was not removed, it could have caused major outages or even broke the line.

The Condor stands exactly 202 feet high at its apex and it can operate in up to 22 mph of wind. APS says anything over 22 mph they do not operate in because the truck could fail.

Linemen not only train for this type of power restoration constantly, but they also go through a four year apprenticeship before they can be called journeyman linemen.

“Safety is paramount. If you see these bucket trucks please stay away. We may not see you while working with different broken poles or lines down,” Weathersby added.

APS crews want customers to know they work as diligently as they can in adverse weather. They ask for patience from the public as many journeyman lineman are working in very dangerous conditions during storms.

“I think sometimes it’s hard to explain all the steps that we have to go through to get the lights back on,” Burdick said.

“A pole breaking isn’t just as simple as breaking, there’s a lot of steps that go into getting that one pole replaced, that’s including de-energizing a line,” Burdick added.

With monsoon season getting underway, they ask customers to prepare for an outage and always have a car charger for phones in the event of an extended outage.

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