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(Continued from Page 1) pie, but we did the best we could.”
He explained that the order in which service is restored depends to a large degree on where a customer lives in relation to the substation. Crews generally work on any main feeder lines which are out, restoring them first, before working the “drop lines” which supply individual services.
Potomac Edison, like most electric utilities, also maintains a “critical customer list,” which includes customers dependent on life-support equipment, fire departments and rescue squad buildings, hospitals and law enforcement and emergency services dispatch centers. The utility puts priority on restoring power to those facilities. Other customers serviced by the same line as those priority customers would, of course, also have their power restored quickly.
Aside from those critical customers, Mr. Saufley said, “it mostly depends upon where the crews are.”
He said that the deep snow prevented equipment from reaching line breaks in some isolated areas, and linesmen were forced to walk in to the break, carrying whatever materials they needed. A helicopter was used to fly over the lines, spotting breaks and directing ground crews, “but the biggest problem was access.” Even with four-wheel drive trucks and chains, the deep snow was a problem.
In addition, in some cases a line was put back into service only to go back out a short time later. Mr. Saufley said the crews found that trees laden with rapidly melting snow were springing up into the lines, shorting them out a second time.
Potomac Edison had four company crews working 16-hour shifts, plus two contractor crews from Winchester, in the county to restore power. Also, right-of-way maintenance crews were pressed into service to clear downed trees and broken limbs from the wires so that the service crews could get in to work.
Mr. Saufley had high praise for the work the line crews did in restoring power. “They should be commended for the hours they put in, the effort — the walking and physical strain — they did the best they could under the circumstances.”
He added that Potomac Edison will review and evaluate its response to the problems created by the storm, “and we will seek ways in which we can improve our response next time.”
Rappahannock Electric put 80 men on the roads Monday at 7 a.m., according to Mr. Updike, “and they’ve been at it non-stop ever since.”
He said the storm carved a swath of broken trees and severed power lines from Warrenton to Charlottesville, “right down Rt. 29.” He described the clean-up as “a very difficult task - there are so many different problems. It’s not just a main line down; we get that line back on and the drop lines are still out. You have to hit them one at a time.”
Broken trees and limbs snapped ■»ot only the lines, but crossarms and equipment affixed to the poles as well. “It was the worst storm since
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