By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
For many, hazardous working conditions occur when the internet is down. For electric utility companies, like Wheatland Electric in Great Bend, working conditions were extreme Monday night as blizzard conditions struck most of the state.
Alli Conine, Wheatland’s Director of Corporate Communications, said utility linemen worked through the blowing snow and white out conditions.
"I don't know if there is anything the lineman can prepare for ahead of time until you're actually living through those situations," said Conine. "I was talking to our general manager late Monday night and mentioned those crews really deserve a medal today. The weather conditions were horrendous. The highways are closed and they're telling everyone to shelter in place. We are still sending our crews out."
Conine said unlike the winter storm of 2017 that had several power poles knocked down or broken, Wheatland only lost three poles from Monday’s storm throughout their entire service area that consists of 17 counties.
"The linemen will keep working as long as they can," said Conine. "Obviously, the goal is to restore power as quickly and safely as possible. By 11 p.m. Monday, we had everyone on that we were going to get on that evening. The weather conditions were worsening and we physically could not get to where we needed to get to fix the issues."
Wheatland used loader tractors pulling their crews into areas that needed maintenance. Wheatland serves more than 33,000 electric meters and maintains over 4,000 miles of distribution power lines.