Thank you lineworkers, we can always count on you!

by General Manager Steve Stroshane, with co-op lineworkers Dennis Vollrath, Tom Horn, Tom Reda & Joel Craker

Polk-Burnett and co-ops around the country are taking the opportunity this month to honor the professionals who keep our lights on day and night, in all kinds of weather and conditions. Polk-Burnett employs 19 highly skilled lineworkers, plus two superintendents, who work across 2,000 square miles of our service territory. It's a big area; we have one crew up north and one crew down south. They are specially trained to work on power lines at more than 7,200 volts of electricity. Anyone who has had power restored after an outage knows and appreciates the critical service provided by lineworkers. We thank them all for their dedication and for putting safety first for each other and our members.

In honor of Lineworker Appreciation Day April 8, I'd like to share some points of view written by four of our co-op lineworkers: Tom Horn (yellow shirt below with students), Tom Reda (above) and Joel Craker (in bucket below) have 33 years of service at Polk-Burnett and Dennis Vollrath (orange shirt below climbing pole) has 53 years.

As Polk-Burnett lineworkers, we power every moment of your day. Some of you may not know it, but we work year-round to build and maintain the electric system. We don't get laid off in the winter; we work in all seasons, when the ground is frozen, when the heat is oppressive, and when our workspace is swarming with mosquitos and ticks. With 3,500 miles of power line, 34,500 power poles and 16,200 overhead and padmount transformers, there is always something that needs to be repaired or replaced. About half of our work is overhead construction and half is underground.

We work in dangerous conditions, at extreme heights near high-voltage electricity. We often work on energized lines. We call this hot work and there is no room for mistakes. We are dedicated to safety at all times. Before we start a job, we make a plan. And during each job, we have each other's backs. We are part of a brotherhood. Our older journeymen lineworkers are paired with younger apprentices to pass important knowledge and skills on to a new generation.

When you see one person up on the pole and another on the ground, know that the lineworker on the ground is just as important. He is our eyes on the ground, watching the line, our equipment, tools and traffic. We have to know what's around us at all times when working with live electricity.

We also work in extreme weather conditions. When you need power the most is usually when the weather is the worst–low visibility, cold, rain, wind and snow. It's a physically demanding job, but you won't hear us complain. We'd rather be climbing poles, in and out of buckets and hiking through the woods than working inside!

After our workday is done, we take turns working on-call in case of an after-hours outage. If your lights go out, we go out, too, in the dark, in the cold, often leaving in the middle of family dinners or when our kids are sick, celebrating a birthday or playing in school sports. We are called out in the middle of the night and weekends, responding 24-7-365 to fix your power.

Once you're a lineworker, you never take your eyes off the line. Whenever we drive down a road, on or off the clock, we're always patrolling the line, watching out for any damage.

Beyond our work for the co-op, we also serve in our communities. We volunteer and do power line safety training for students at local schools. This is our hometown too, and we're always happy to help our neighbors.

It’s hard work, but it’s very rewarding. And it's always nice to hear a member say, "thank you" when the lights come back on.

~ from co-op lineworkers Dennis Vollrath, Tom Horn, Tom Reda and Joel Craker

You can see it takes a special person to be a lineworker. They are courageous, committed and dedicated. You can always count on them to deliver reliable electricity to our homes, farms and businesses. From all of us, thank you lineworkers!