Behind the scenes: Fueling the fleet
GLE line crews, along with hundreds of contract and mutual aid crews have been working long hours to restore power to the tens of thousands of GLE members who have been affected by the recent ice storms.
Mobilizing such a big effort is no small task.
On any “regular” day, GLE’s fleet maintenance team is responsible for keeping an inventory of more than 300 vehicles and pieces of equipment on the road and in the field.
But the past week has been anything but “regular.”
In fact, just meeting the most basic mobilization needs for an effort of this size – fuel for work trucks – has been a challenge. In the first few days, line crews found themselves waiting in long lines to fuel up at area gas stations.
GLE has since made arrangements with local fuel distributor Johnson Oil, to provide temporary diesel fuel depots at GLE’s Boyne City and Waters locations and as of Thursday, an additional location at the Charlton Township Hall near Johannesburg.
Every morning Johnson Oil sends tanker trucks loaded with diesel fuel to these locations to fuel GLE, mutual aid, and contractor trucks before they head out into the field for another long day of power restoration work. The tanker trucks are equipped with a high-flow pump that can dispense 100 gallons of fuel in about a minute. Those same locations now also have tanks on site to fuel gasoline-powered vehicles.
GLE Fleet Maintenance Superintendent Michael Mason said this fueling arrangement saves as much as two hours for each crew each day compared to waiting in lines at area gas stations. That means these crews can spend more time in the field making restorations and less time waiting in lines.
Taking it on the road
In some cases, the fleet maintenance team has to bring the fuel to the crews. Micheal’s truck has now been outfitted with a portable tank that allows him to fuel up some of the off-road equipment that line crews use to make repairs in locations deep into rights-of-way.
But fuel isn’t the only fleet service that is taking to the road.
The fleet maintenance team has trucks outfitted with equipment, allowing them to make a wide array of repairs to vehicles on worksites. Michael said that although his team has made many such mobile repairs, except for one failed engine, so far, most of the roadside repairs have been minor.
More preventative maintenance
Although the fleet maintenance team regularly does maintenance and safety inspections on GLE’s vehicles, during the response to this storm, they have been doing a multi-point inspection of each bucket truck each morning before it goes out for the day.
“That’s more often than normal, but in this situation, it’s especially important to minimize breakdowns to keep our crews safe and actively working on restorations,” Micheal said.
Just like the lineworkers they support, the fleet maintenance crew has been working 16-hour days that start at 5 a.m. and stretch well into the evening.
In addition to his “day job” at GLE, Micheal is also a firefighter with the Melrose Township Fire & Rescue. The first few nights after the storm, he spent several hours after work out with his fellow firefighters helping clear trees and limbs to make sure roads were passable for emergency crews to reach people who call for help.
These are just a few of the many ongoing behind-the-scenes efforts taking place at GLE to support restoring power to our members in the wake of the unprecedented damage recent storms have had across northern Michigan.
