Over 1,500 Crews Respond to Holiday Season Ice Storms

Back-to-back ice storms in Arkansas, and parts of Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma in December generated Asplundh’s largest storm response effort in company history. From December 13 when the first ice storm hit, through the first week of January, there were approximately 5,100 Asplundh and subsidiary employees from more than 20 states involved in ice storm work.

There’s never a ‘good’ time of year for a bad storm. It was especially difficult, though, for the more than 1,500 tree and line crews who missed out on Christmas and/or New Year’s holidays with their family and friends. However, the crews knew only too well that thousands of utility customers (including themselves) would be out of service until the trees could be cleared and electricity restored. Asplundh’s reputation for all-out storm response was on the line and our crews came through!

The Entergy system in southern Arkansas and northern Louisiana was especially hard hit. During the first ice storm, over 700 crews were assigned to the storm response and after the December 25 ice storm, more than 850 crews were on the property. Clean-up operations for Entergy in Arkansas continued with out-of-state crews through March 17, focusing on storm damaged trees.

AEP-SWEPCO and TU Electric in East Texas, Austin Electric, and to a lesser extent, OG&E in Oklahoma, were also seriously affected by either one or both of the ice storms. Several rural electric cooperatives and municipal utilities in southern Arkansas were also assisted by Asplundh crews in restoring power.

Manager Eugene Wyatt in Louisiana was designated by Entergy as its one point of contact, which was a new procedure in storm response for Asplundh. All requests for crews—throughout the Entergy service area—were coordinated through his office and that of Corporate Storm Coordinator Brent Asplundh in Willow Grove, during the first few weeks of storm work. Vice President Tom Gunning in Arkansas also had the dubious honor of ‘hosting’ the largest number of mobilized crews in company history.

A big thank-you goes out to the 25 Asplundh regions who had tree crews on the job—plus our utility construction subsidiaries and regional operations who contributed over 200 line construction crews to the storm response.

Check out the great comments received by Asplundh for the hard work of its employees in the field and Home Office.

Storm Orchids – Arkansas

Construction General Foreman Randle Goforth and Foreman Jeremy Cravatt from the Steve Bostock Region in Florida, for coming to the rescue by restoring power on Park Place in Pine Bluff, Arkansas,
Entergy

Supervisor Randy Parham and crews from the Steve Bostock Region in Alabama, for going the extra mile to assist in the restoration of power to the Star City, Arkansas area in adverse conditions after the December 12-13 ice storm,
C & L Electric Cooperative Corp.

General Foreman John Reeves, Foremen Al Gilbert, Nick Prchal, Mikel Reed, Terrell Roland and Crew Members Steve Hart, Drew Pickens, Trent Teele and Zach Young from the Steve Bostock Region in Alabama, for professionalism and going beyond the call of duty while working on the ice storm in Arkansas,
Entergy

General Foreman Tim Swan and crews, for the excellent manner in which the Searcy, Arkansas area was serviced during January so that Entergy personnel could work on storm restoration in West Little Rock,
Entergy

General Foreman Glen Clark, Foremen Chris Cowan, Ladon Dalton, Vince Rogers, Mark Schrader and crews from the Ernest Morrison Region in Georgia, for dedication and professionalism while working long hours in both ice storms that affected Arkansas in December,
Entergy

Foremen Charles Crosby and Brad Wright and crews from the Ernest Morrison Region in Georgia, for being dedicated, skillful and courageous during the terrible conditions after the ice storm in Hot Springs, Arkansas,
Entergy

Construction General Foreman Tex Rowell and crews from the Preston Polk Region in Georgia, for the outstanding work ethic, responsible behavior and friendliness demonstrated to the staff and management of a Hot Springs, Arkansas hotel in which the work crews resided during ice storm restoration work in January and February,
Entergy

Construction Foremen Larry Swaim and Billy Hallford and Crew Members Sherman Bryand, Bullet Burchett, Billy W. Hallford and Kenny McGuire from the Preston Polk Region in Georgia, for being dedicated, dependable workers under adverse conditions during the ice storm in Arkansas,
Entergy

General Foremen Mike Edgecomb, John Hodgden, Jeff Link and crews from the Mel Riley Region in Kansas, for the excellent work done to restore power in the Fordyce, Arkansas area during the December 12-13 ice storm,
Entergy

General Foremen Herb Babb, Kyle Baur, Sam Tipton, John Wright and crews from the Mel Riley Region in Kansas, for giving outstanding support to power restoration crews in the Danville, Arkansas area after the December 25 ice storm,
Entergy

General Foreman John Hodgden and crews from the Mel Riley Region in Kansas, for non-stop hard work under adverse conditions in the Pine Bluff, Arkansas area after the December 12-13 ice storm,
Entergy

Supervisor Mann McMillan from the Barry Suddreth Region in North Carolina, for calling 911 to report a house on fire near Dalark, Arkansas and checking to make sure no one was inside,
Entergy

Foremen Johnny Burns and Dennis Hayes and Crew Members Mike Broe and Bobby Johnson from the Mike Early Region in Ohio, for hard work and impeccable manners (no foul language) while clearing out a jungle of downed trees to help restore power to the Ferndale, Arkansas area,
Entergy

General Foreman Roger Franklin, Foremen Steve Blocker, Kevin Covington, Mark Haynes, Jr., Dustin Holt, Ray Madden, Floyd Pugh, Raymond Smith, Warren Smith and Arnold Swindall and crews, for doing everything asked of them and more during the ice storm restoration work in Fort Smith, Arkansas and Checotah, Oklahoma,
OG&E Electric Services (OK)

Superintendent Greg Perry from the Tim Manners Region in Texas and General Foreman Ken Sims from the Eugene Wyatt Region in Louisiana, for being a tremendous help in organizing and coordinating crews, considering how many people were called in, so that the storm restoration work could go as smoothly as possible,
Entergy

General Foreman Danny Smith and Crew Member Wadie Rose, Jr. of the Dave Puckett Region in West Virginia, for assisting six stranded motorists on a hilly stretch of Highway 7 near Hot Springs, Arkansas on December 31 as more snow and ice was falling,
Entergy

Storm Orchid - Louisiana

Manager Eugene Wyatt, General Foremen Andrew Anthony and Cecil Cottongin and crews, for providing safe, professional storm response to Entergy’s transmission system in extremely hostile winter conditions,
Entergy

Storm Orchids – Texas

Supervisor Kenny Cuevas and crews from the Tom Leverentz Region and Supervisor Mike Fogarty, General Foreman Robert LeBlanc and crews from the Allen LeBlanc Region, for being the most dedicated, kind courteous workers during the ice storm disaster in Texarkana, Texas (from a Ramada Inn employee),
AEP-SWEPCO

General Foreman Jeromy Rushing, Foremen Bulmaro Cerda and James Lee and Crew Members Arturo Cerda, Aureliano Cisneros, Brad Jackson, Steve Martin and Carlos Tovar, for hard work in helping to restore electricity in the Carthage, Texas area after the December 13 ice storm,
AEP-SWEPCO

General Foreman Milton Ventura, for professionalism in handling an upset customer in McKinney, Texas,
TU Electric

Storm Orchids - No Name Given

From a letter to Vice President Tom Gunning in Arkansas from Associate Pastor Jerry Johnson of Little Rock’s First Baptist Church, which accompanied a stack of 13 notes from church members and their children ... “I want to express a heartfelt thank-you to you and your employees for coming to our aid during the recent ice storm. Thank you for your quick and ready response, assisting us at a time when I’m sure most of you would have preferred to be at home with your own families. You made a difficult situation easier to cope with, and at the same time, protected the lives of many of our members and citizens. May the Lord richly bless you and redeem the time you were away from loved ones.”

Construction crews from the Steve Bostock Region in Florida received copies of letters written by third grade students at Fairview Elementary School. Here’s a quote from Ryan Hunt’s letter:  My mom kept on telling me and my sister that you work 24 hours a day and I know how people argue with you and get really angry. I know it’s hard, but some people want their lights on the minute they go off. If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t know what electricity is. I wish you a blessed New Year.

From a letter to Chairman of the Board/CEO Chris Asplundh, Pulaski County (AR) County Judge F.G. Villines wrote ... “The storms of December 2000 caused a great deal of havoc and misery for the people of this community and the State. ... Your crews played a significant role in bringing assistance in our time of need. On behalf of the people of Pulaski County, I sincerely thank you and your crews for their efforts in very difficult conditions.”

From an e-mail message to an Asplundh office in Alabama dated January 5, 2001 ... “I am writing to express my sincere gratitude to the guys in the orange trucks who came to rescue us from the ice storm we had in Little Rock, Arkansas. I am not sure what the truck number was or their names, but they came to help us on Jack Mann Road. The neighborhood was elated to see the trucks come down the street. ... Without them, I feel like we would have been weeks without power, but we only had to survive seven days without power. ... Once again, thanks guys for all your hard work. You can come back to Arkansas anytime, not just during the ice!”