Subsidiary Spotlight: Asplundh Construction Corp.

Nine years ago, Asplundh acquired a fast-growing utility construction company on Long Island, New York, to expand its capabilities in overhead and underground electric as well as gas line construction. It certainly has expanded and now Asplundh Construction Corporation (ACC) is one of the company’s largest subsidiaries in terms of sales volume.

With over 550 skilled employees working in four states, and more than 1,000 pieces of specialized equipment, ACC has all the resources it takes to build, repair or maintain a wide variety of utility and municipal construction projects. A simplified listing of ACC services would include:

• all aspects of electric transmission and distribution construction, replacement or system improvements for overhead or underground lines
• all facets of high and low pressure gas line construction or replacement-mains or service lines in steel or plastic
• general construction of roadways and sanitary landfill operations • pipe jacking, directional boring and rock drilling
• fiber optic cable installation or replacement for telecommunications-underground, overhead or underwater
• pavement and landscape restoration after gas line construction or repair
• emergency storm restoration work

In recent years, ACC has branched out of its traditionally Northeast-based operations into other parts of the country and now maintains successful satellite offices in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. In June, ACC headquarters moved from Patchogue, New York to a 3.5 acre, 16,000 square foot facility in Yaphank, just a few miles further into the north central portion of Long Island. Along with office renovations and running a large shop/warehouse facility, ACC has recently reorganized its operations and named several new managers as well. Scott Asplundh, who has sponsored a variety of construction operations for the past three years, is the subsidiary’s new president.

Merit Awards

Asplundh’s Board of Directors approved Silver Merit Awards for three employees from the George Leszkowicz Region who prevented a life threatening accident and administered proper first aid to a resident of Rocky Hill, Connecticut.
The event took place on Monday, August 16 just as General Foreman Steve Bennett stopped by to visit Lift Foreman Chuck Lenart and Crew Member Leonard Hall who were working for Connecticut Light & Power Co. (CL&P). They noticed a vehicle starting and stopping and driving in circles around the intersection. The three were able to get the driver’s attention and get him to stop. The man, Mr. Edward Grayeb, was completely disoriented, but they patiently asked for his driver’s license to get his address so they could help him get home.
It was then that they saw his Medic Alert card, stating he was diabetic. Immediately, they gave Mr. Grayeb a soda to drink and within moments, he was much better. Just in case, though, they drove him three blocks to his home and made sure he was safe. Chuck returned later that afternoon to check on him and Steve returned the following day as well.
CL&P Regional Arborist John Mendyka wrote in a letter of commendation, “ The Asplundh family and the Asplundh Tree Expert Co. can be pleased to have employees like these three men, especially Chuck Lenart, who will take time to help others in need.”
Congratulations Steve, Chuck and Leonard!

Hurricanes Floyd and Irene: Hundreds of Crews Mobilized

Weather forecasts are just that-a forecast or prediction of what might come. For instance, Hurricane Bret in August caused relatively little property damage despite a dire forecast. That’s because it dodged major cities and hit a very rural area in South Texas, making it possible for the Allen LeBlanc Region to handle the storm reponse on their own.

Then September came and a huge Category 4 hurricane named Floyd was in the forecast for the entire, densely-populated East Coast. Preparing for the worst, dozens of utilities and municipalities from Florida to New England called on Asplundh for storm emergency services.

In response to Hurricane Floyd’s threat, our Storm Coordinators in Willow Grove mobilized approximately 850 crews from 20 Asplundh regions as far away as Texas and Nebraska. Due to the potential for tree damage and outages on a massive scale, this mobilization effort was significantly larger than Asplundh’s previous record, which was just shy of 700 crews for the January 1998 ice storm.

However, on Sept. 13 when Asplundh’s preparations began in earnest, nobody could have predicted that the worst of Floyd’s wrath on Sept. 15-16 would come in the form of torrential rain and flooding- not widespread wind and tree damage. Despite flooded roads from Florida to Vermont, crews made it to their assigned destinations in time to assist the local Asplundh crews and utilities in their storm response. Fortunately, our mobilized crews finished up the emergency work (that wasn’t under water!) within a few days and they were soon released to return to their home regions.

The Bob Atherton Region in the eastern Carolinas and the Pat White Region in Florida received the largest number of outside crews, about 450 altogether, but crews were also moved into parts of Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Coastal Virginia was also very badly affected by the storm, but the Tom McDonnell Region rallied all its crews together and handled all the storm work themselves.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Floyd, 60 people died and an estimated 30,000 homes were destroyed, mostly by flooding. Asplundh employees were not immune to the suffering. For instance, the home of General Foreman David Rawls was swept away from its foundation by flood waters in the town of Williamston, North Carolina. Thankfully, he and his family were not hurt.

Although Hurricane Floyd was much more of a water event than wind, Asplundh answered the call of utilities in need, quickly and effectively. However, Asplundh’s Storm Coordinators could not let their guard down because more storms were brewing in the Atlantic.

Following close behind Floyd was Hurricane Irene which pounded South Florida on October 15 and brought over 20 inches of rain in a two-day period. A reported 1.7 million customers in South Florida were out of service after Irene passed through and approximately 75% of the Florida Power & Light Co. (FP&L) service area was directly affected. Flooding was a problem once again, from Ft. Myers on the Gulf Coast to Vero Beach on the Atlantic and southward to the Keys.

The Pat White Region and FP&L were well-prepared for this storm and within 72 hours, 99% of the FP&L service area had its power restored. Asplundh crews were also dispatched to assist several municipal utilities in the region restore power.

“Every spring we practice our storm response,” said Pat, “and it really pays off. Our customers really do a good job of coordinating the work and taking care of our crews so that we can do a good job for them.”

These quick results were achieved with the assistance of an additional 310 crews and supervision who came from Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee and other neighboring Asplundh regions within the state of Florida. By October 21, all the mobilized crews had returned to their home regions.

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