On a crystal clear Orange County morning, Southern California Edison Aircraft Operations helicopter pilot Jason Lowry banks his Bell 429 toward a landing pad and gently sets it down, the skids perfectly straddling the “YLW” logo painted in the center as his target. The letters stand for Yorba Linda Water District, which installed a 5,000-gallon water tank known as a heli-hydrant nearby to fight fires in the hilly wildlands bordering a residential neighborhood.

Lowry is part of SCE’s HALO (Helicopter Assisted Line Organization) team, which today will be working to make the jobs of the aerial firefighters who depend on the heli-hydrant a lot safer. Lowry will be transporting lineworkers dangling from a cable below his helicopter to install brightly colored marker balls on electric transmission lines in the area.

“We’re doing 15 today,” said Lowry, who has been a helicopter pilot for 14 years, four of those with SCE. “We would need a crane with about 500 feet of stick to reach these marker balls, whereas, with the helicopter, I can take it to any level we want to get these balls up quickly and efficiently.”

The orange, yellow and white marker balls are needed to make the wires more visible to pilots, especially in conditions where visibility is limited, such as during a wildfire.

“We do this collaboration in the spirit of public safety so everyone flying through our service area has a clear indication of where our lines are, and they can avoid them,” said Tom Guntrip, SCE’s director of Transportation Services.

Before the work can begin, Lowry performs a series of safety checks on his helicopter and then helps lead a tailboard meeting with the team to review the plans for the day and emergency procedures.

“Everything becomes much more of a hazard once you start flying and you get guys at the bottom of that rope,” said Louie Galindo, a senior superintendent on the HALO team. Throughout the operation, lineworkers are in constant contact with pilot Lowry through their headsets.

“My main goal is to get the guys to their work area safely,” Lowry said. “I was trained in linework just like they were, so I’m looking for issues with the wires or the cable and getting them into a good, safe working position where they don’t know the helicopter is there.”

The day’s first flights are to shuttle lineworkers to the span of transmission wires to de-energize and ground them. Then, the balls’ positions are marked, and only then can the marker balls be assembled.

Flying in teams of two, lineworkers transport the halved balls and screw them together around the transmission lines while dangling underneath the helicopter.

“We all work for the lineworkers,” said Galindo. “I am the general superintendent, but my job and everything we do in the planning of the job is to make sure they are safe.”

The speed, teamwork and efficiency demonstrated by the crew were remarkable. Lowry’s record for marker ball installations in a single day is 165.

But today, and every day, the HALO team’s most important accomplishment is their contribution to public safety and the safety of their colleagues.

For more on SCE's commitment to wildfire safety, visit edison.com/wildfiresafety. For more information about other ways SCE helps to keep our customers, communities and employees safe, visit sce.com/safety.