Lineworkers Take Flight to Reduce Wildfire Threats
Lineworkers Take Flight to Reduce Wildfire Threats
“Be aware out there,” warned Erik Hall, a foreman in Southern California Edison’s Orange County service area. “People are starting to see snakes, mountain lions and other cool stuff. Keep your head on a swivel and stay with your team.”
Watching out for potentially dangerous wildlife is just one safety reminder for this select team of SCE lineworkers. All their colleagues are well-trained to climb poles and handle high-voltage hazards. But this crew of 50 is part of an actual high-wire act: installing covered conductor — power lines with a protective layer to guard against sparks that could ignite a wildfire — in the heart of the Cleveland National Forest. The circuit stretches from the Orange County suburbs to a remote mountaintop that’s home to critical communications equipment.
VIDEO: SCE lineworkers become human external cargo to install covered conductor in rugged terrain.
“We use a work method called human external cargo,” said Michael Pacheco, an SCE general supervisor in Orange County. “We fly our crews harnessed to rope lines that are attached to the belly of our helicopters. We insert them and all the necessary equipment in remote locations with no access roads and steep terrain that does not allow landing zones for helicopters.”
Most of the topography in the high fire risk areas that make up 27% of SCE’s 50,000-square-mile service area is similar — rugged terrain with limited accessibility and shrouded by a tinder box of vegetation as the state continues to battle years of drought.
As part of SCE’s 2022 Wildfire Mitigation Plan, SCE expects to expeditiously and safely install more than 1,100 miles of covered conductor this year. As part of this work, crews also replace existing poles and attachments, such as composite crossarms and insulators. The only practical way to complete the job is by helicopter.
“This particular project will receive 11 conductor miles of insulated lines with an elevation difference of about 5,600 feet,” said Pacheco. “I’m sure we can find a way to bushwhack through it, but it would be quite a task, and it might take a month just to string a few spans of covered conductor. Using HEC, we can finish the entire project in a matter of days.”
The aerial work is also instrumental in stretching the covered conductor from one pole to the next hundreds of yards away, despite apparently insurmountable obstacles such as a canyon with a steep 800-foot drop.
“It would take weeks just to figure out how to get access through the ravine,” said Pacheco. “If we did not have HEC, the hiking alone for reconnaissance would be overwhelming.”
“It would take weeks just to figure out how to get access through the ravine,” said Pacheco. “If we did not have HEC, the hiking alone for reconnaissance would be overwhelming.”
Back at the safety briefing, Hall continued his discussion.
“A week or two ago, a fire started right on the other side of the ridge,” said Hall, referring to the Jim Fire, which burned more than 500 acres nearby. “We had 47 guys out here working, but with efficient communication and coordination, it took less than an hour to get everyone evacuated off the mountain.”
It’s a clear reminder of where they are and why they rely on the human external cargo method, which significantly limits the crew’s exposure to wildlife elements and improves the ability to safely extract personnel during an emergency.
“The human external cargo work method has opened up many possibilities for lineworkers in terms of the work they can do and how efficiently they can do it,” said Pacheco. “Many of us are in this trade because we get to work outdoors. Doing the type of work out in the wilderness and realizing its positive impact on public safety means a lot to the team.”
For more information on SCE's wildfire safety efforts, visit edison.com/wildfire-safety.