May is National Electrical Safety Month

Were you aware tree limbs may become a safety hazard when in contact with power lines? Did you know attempting to trim a tree in contact with a power line puts you in danger of electrocution? Have you ever been uncertain about when and where to trim your trees located near power lines? 

The warm weather of spring often arrives with May, which is also recognized as National Electrical Safety Month. As trees begin to grow and bud, they may come in contact with power lines, creating confusion about responsibility and concern about member safety. United Power wants to make sure you know the answers to your questions so you can safely tackle your spring yard work. 

(For quick reference about who’s responsible for maintaining trees near power lines, please read “Who’s Responsible” below.) 

When you encounter a tree in the vicinity of a primary power line, immediately contact United Power. Avoid trimming when you encounter the following: tree limbs in direct contact with a power line, dead tree limbs hanging near power lines, tree limbs growing toward power lines. 

Observe the Ten-Foot Rule to safely trim trees on your property located near power lines. This means anything inside that radius may put you at risk. For your safety, United Power will disconnect secondary lines when notified in advance of any tree trimming activity at no cost to the member. Remember to trim only from a steady, level surface, removing small, easy to manage sections. Large tree/branch sections may fall unexpectedly and risk taking down power lines and causing potential injury. If this is not possible, contact a professional tree trimmer. 

When in doubt about safety or responsibility, please contact United Power at 303-637-1300. We’ll be happy to send out a troubleshooter or one of our tree contractors to assess the situation and keep you safe. 

Who's Responsible

United Power has an aggressive tree trimming program to reduce the number of tree related outages. However, in some cases, the homeowner may be responsible for keeping a line to their home clear of trees. Here is how it works:

• United Power is responsible for trimming around primary lines. These are lines running from pole to pole. United Power maintains these lines because they are higher voltage and require special handling from a qualified tree trimming crew.
• Members are responsible for obstructions in secondary lines. These are typically single lines stretching from our pole to a member’s home - often seen in backyards, crossing from the main electric line to the home. 

United Power recently asked elementary students in its service territory to help demonstrate electrical safety in its annual Electrical Safety Poster Contest. Kids in grades kindergarten through fifth submitted creative and educational posters designed to teach family and friends how to stay safe around electricity. United Power will place winning poster designs on bus benches during the month of May, which is recognized as National Electrical Safety Month.

Employees at the member-owned cooperative voted to select the following winners from each grade for the 2018 Electrical Safety Poster Contest: Zariah McPherson from Reunion Elementary, Joey Seymour from Platteville Elementary, Maddilyn Griffis from Bromley East Charter School, Sofie Archer from Landmark Academy, Troy Wymer from Hoff Elementary, and Kaydence States from Bromley East Charter School.

Congratulations to all the winners, and thank you to all the students who entered their creative safety messages. Look for winning safety posters to appear through the cooperative service territory for the month of May.

United Power is a member-owned, not-for-profit electric cooperative serving more than 83,000 homes and busineses along Colorado’s northern front range. To learn more about United Power, visit www.unitedpower.com or follow the cooperative at Facebook.com/UnitedPower.

2018 D.C. Youth Tour Delegates

United Power selected three local students to represent the cooperative at this year’s Cooperative Youth Tour in Washington D.C in June. Hannah Rockwell of Brighton, Megan Lewis from Firestone and Jordyn Saffy of Brighton were selected based on academic performance, extracurricular activities, volunteer efforts and a brief essay.

Local electric cooperatives throughout the country sponsor approximately 1,500 ambitious high school students from small towns and cities for an incredible week in the nation’s capital with the objective of providing an educational experience for young people on the organization and operation of a cooperative. Cooperatives are committed to educating America’s rural youth about the country and the role electric cooperatives play in developing strong rural communities. 

Hannah Rockwell is a student at Weld Central High School where she is an athlete in cross country and track. She is a member of the National Honor Society and president of her school’s Future Business Leaders of America Club. Hannah loves school and her future plans include pursuing a career in medicine. 

Megan Lewis attends Frederick High School, where she is a member of the National Honor Society and the Student Advisory Committee. Megan is active in musicals/plays at her school, and is on both the varsity cross country and tennis teams. Her future plans include college and medical school. 

Jordyn Saffy attends high school at Eagle Ridge Academy. Jordan is captain of the volleyball team, president of the spirit team and participates in track and field. Her future plans include a degree in health sciences, which she intends to use to help those in need.

2018 Youth Leadership Camp Winners

United Power has also selected Brooklyn Stubby of Mapleton Early College in Commerce City and Catera Gagna of Brighton to represent the cooperative at the 2018 Cooperative Youth Leadership Camp in Steamboat Springs, Colorado this July. The camp is offered to high school juniors and seniors in the United Power service area. Interested students are asked to apply, and winners are selected based on academic performance, extracurriculr activities and volunteer efforts. 

The primary objective of the camp is to provide an educational experience for youth on the organization and operation of a cooperative. The camp strives to help develop leadership skills that will assist students with challenges they will face in the future.

Brooklyn Stubby attends Mapleton Early College and is active in student council, swimming and student mentoring. Brooklyn is keeping her options open, but is considering physical therapy, detective work or personal training/nutrition. 

Catera Gagna is a student at Brighton High School and plays softball. She is a member of the principal’s honor roll, student government and volunteers at a local elementary school. Catera plans to attend college and pursue a career in engineering.

When darkness befalls a city, superheroes lace up their boots, throw on their capes and race into danger without a moment’s hesitation. Everyone knows the classic Spider-Man quote, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Every day heroes may not wear capes and fly around the city, but they know when the going gets tough, it’s time for them to get going. 

The Denver area is synonymous with winter storms, and when the metro last experienced the most trying pitfalls of living at the base of the Rocky Mountains in October 2009, United Power linemen were prepped and ready to go as snow blanketed the metro area. Schools and businesses took preemptive action, closing before the storm hit. By the time the last snowflake nestled in with its brethren, snow had been falling for more than 24 hours. 

While area youth enjoyed a day away from the classroom, a different picture unfolded in the Front Range. Coal Creek Canyon, a community within United Power’s mountain service area, had accumulated nearly four feet of snow. 

To put that number into perspective, Chicago’s average annual snowfall is around three feet.  

Calm winds allowed the snow to gingerly build on tree branches, poles, yard ornaments and fences, bringing with it a massive burden. Each new snowflake resting precariously on unsuspecting surfaces brought weight inching toward disaster, like the dastardly plan of a supervillain. Before the storm faded, thousands of Coal Creek residents were without power as tree branches, cross arms and power lines succumbed to the weight of the snow. 

Within moments of the outage, United Power had begun mobilizing crews to diagnose the situation and restore power. Operations Superintendent Mike Lanckriet, a lineman of 32 years, and his crew were among the first to respond. 

“We took careful steps to monitor the storm as it moved into our territory, but we never expected the amount of snow we got,” Lanckriet said. “At times the snow was deeper than our linemen were tall. But we didn’t think of it in terms of challenges. When we arrived, our first focus was what needed to be done to get the power back on.”

United Power linemen wouldn’t let the enormity of the task ahead deter them from accomplishing their goal. They laced up their boots, threw on their tools and raced headfirst into our worst winter storm in more than 12 years.

Crews spent nearly a week battling dense snow, bitter cold and physical and mental fatigue while alternating 14 hour shifts to restore power to Coal Creek. Final repairs, however, took more than two weeks to complete. 

“You try to be as prepared as possible before a large storm, but there’s always a level of unpredictability,” said Kurt Eisenbarth, another United Power superintendent and former lineman. “It takes a different mentality to thrive on that in the most critical situations.”

Living along the Front Range means each winter brings the possibility of another debilitating winter storm, but in reality critical situations come few and far between. Most of the time, linemen are working when the weather’s calm and the sun is shining. It’s easy to forget the service they provide when the situation isn’t seen as “critical,” easy to divorce their role from the danger linemen face each day. 

“It doesn’t take lightning or snow for our job to be dangerous,” said Operations Manager Brent Sydow. “The most routine task requires a high level of care and safety.”

Being a lineman requires hard work, dedication and commitment – to their crew and their work – to doing dangerous work, knowing the fruits of their labor are often misunderstood or unrecognized. 

Residents in a comic book rest easy knowing a superhero is there to save the day when danger rears its head, much like we confidently trust in the unimpeded flow of electricity to power our lives. But when the power fails, our linemen spring into action. 

We invite our members to join us in celebrating National Lineman Appreciation Day on April 18th. Use #ThankALineman on social media to show your support, or take a moment to drop a kind note in the mail. 

Outages can come without warning, from a variety of different situations, but one thing you can count on: when the power goes out, a United Power line crew is already on its way. 

“When the power goes out, it’s about a brotherhood coming together to accomplish a goal, working shoulder to shoulder through blood, sweat and tears,” Eisenbarth said. “At night, they get to be the superheroes.”  
 

Electricity is something many don’t think about until it’s not working. For some, backup plans are already in place to ensure a continual flow of power when storms or high winds threaten to disrupt service. 

The use of portable generators is commonplace during power outages, but you may not know they can potentially create one of the more dangerous situations for the linemen trying to restore power to you and your neighbors. When a generator is plugged into a wall outlet, service panel or breaker box, it produces a “backfeed,” which happens when electrical energy flows in the reverse direction from its normal flow. A backfeed reenergizes the transformer closest to your house, and puts linemen at risk of electrocution. 

Think of a transformer as a funnel. As electricity enters the transformer from the powerlines, it is funneled out at a lower voltage sufficient to provide power to a household. When it enters from the reverse direction, it has the opposite effect, returning the voltage to a higher level. Linemen who are caught unaware of a backfeed could risk serious injury, or even death. 

It is never recommended to plug a generator into a wall outlet, service panel or breaker box; instead, plug appliances and other electrical devices directly into the generator as specified in the product’s operating instructions. In the event you find it necessary to plug the generator into a wall outlet, flipping your property’s main breaker to the “off” position may provide protection to linemen working in the area. This position prevents electricity from flowing into or out of the breaker. Remember to disconnect your generator from the wall outlet prior to turning the breaker back on.

Linemen spend countless hours in dangerous situations making sure power continues to flow to every member in our service area. Help us take the necessary steps to keep them safe.