our crews to carry Wayne MacDonald’s card, head of logistics
for FortisAlberta. I handed the Mounties the card and
told them to phone the head of electrical and explain why
Waterton will not be getting its power turned back on.”
Not wanting to stand in the way of getting the power back
on, the Mounties let the Encore team through. The trucks
made their way into the park, driving slowly and carefully
into the smoke-filled valley, with ribbons of glowing fire ringing
the mountain ranges around the town.
“Barely able to see through all the smoke, we found our
crews and offloaded everything we had – stacking transformers
onto temporary bases, spotting poles and cable strategically
around the town,” said Lucas.
After hours of persevering through smoke and heat, the
Encore team managed to string and replace 13.5 kilometres
of poles. As a result, the emergency generators roared to life
and the first flickers of light came back. Most importantly,
this also meant the firefighters were back on the grid.
“The FortisAlberta area coordinator thanked me and our
crews personally for saving his team’s bacon during the
reconstruction,” said Lucas.
A week later, Lucas and his team went back to survey
the damage and take care of any follow-up work that may
have been needed. As he recalls, even though his people had
been on the ground repairing the damage first-hand, once
he returned with fresh eyes, Lucas could barely believe the
devastation the fire caused.
“When we met with the Fortis crew after the fire, they
offered us their heartfelt thanks for a job well done. They
acted like we were the heroes. But at the end of the day, it’s
what we’re here for. And I couldn’t be prouder of my team
for doing their part.” n
E V E RYDAY H E R O E S
After hours of persevering through smoke
and heat, the Encore team managed to string
and replace 13.5 kilometres of poles. As a
result, the emergency generators roared to
life and the first flickers of light came back.
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