The Line Life Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Hurricane Helene hit the southeastern United States just two weeks before Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida. For this special episode of the Line Life Podcast, listen to lineworkers and field managers for Duke Energy talk about the storm response in the Carolinas from working with helicopters to bringing in a mobile substation and providing power to a VA hospital. 

For more information about the storm response to both hurricanes, stay tuned to T&D World's website, which features a photo gallery from the Hurricane Helene restoration and storm updates.

Lineworkers, if you want to be part of a future Line Life Podcast episode about the hurricane response, email us at linelifepodcast@gmail.com. You can also fill out this form to enter to win a new Storm Jaw from Huskie Tools, the sponsor of the Line Life Podcast. Pick up your Huskie Heroes T-shirt in Booth #617 at the International Lineman's Expo and make sure you stop by the T&D World Booth #73. We look forward to seeing you in Kansas City for the International Lineman's Rodeo Week. Stay safe out there!

Tree crews often work alongside lineworkers, especially during storm response, when arborists clear the roads ahead of line crews. For a special episode of the T&D World Line Life Podcast, we are highlighting guest Dennis Fallon, executive director of the Utility Arborist Association (UAA). The UAA partners with T&D World on the annual Vegetation Management supplement. 

Field Editor Amy Fischbach interviewed Dennis during the Trees & Utilities conference in the heart of downtown Fort Worth, Texas, for the 25th anniversary of the event. The conference, which is presented by the UAA and the Arbor Day Foundation, brings together utility vegetation management (UVM) professionals from across the country for three days of networking and education. 

For more information, check out the photo gallery from the event or visit the website. 

Our Faces of the Future podcast series continues with Melissa Dawe, an apprentice lineworker for Connect Atlantic Utility Services in Canada. She first discovered the trade as a traffic controller when she saw the Nova Scotia Power line crews in action. After enrolling in a Utility Line Work Construction and Maintenance course at a community college, she joined her local union and pursued a career in the trade.

As a fourth-year apprentice, she is now looking forward to earning her journeyman ticket and inspiring the next generation of women lineworkers.

To learn more about Melissa, check out her profile in T&D World magazine as part of our Faces of the Future department or look for the article, "Lighting the Way for the Line Trade" in our September 2024 Lineworker Supplement.

The May 2024 cover story of T&D World, "The Winds of Change for St. Lucia's Electric Grid," is now an audio story in our In Case You Missed It series for the Line Life podcast. In the article, Randall Wood and Mike Allison of Power Engineers, Inc. describe the major hurricanes that have hit the region in the past and then share how St. Lucia Electricity Services Ltd. (LUCELEC) is focusing on grid resiliency and reliability when faced with bigger and stronger storms. Click here to read the article online. 

For Part 3 of our Faces of the Future series for the T&D World Line Life Podcast, we are shining the spotlight on Joshua Hohenberg, apprentice lineworker at Evergy. He started out his career as a superintendent carpenter before launching his career in the line trade on the contractor side. He then  walked on for a Boot Camp at Evergy to get his foot in the door. During this episode, he shares the story about restoring power following a tornado, when roofs were ripped off from homes. He also talks about the day in his life as an apprentice for Evergy and how he's learning how to be safe and productive in the field. 

For this episode in our ICYMI series for the Line Life Podcast, we are featuring the story, "A Slice of Life in the Florida Keys," which was originally published in the May 2024 Electric Utility Operations section of T&D World magazine. The story was written by Arborist Jason Richards, who oversees the vegetation management program for Florida Keys Electric Cooperative (FKEC). 

In the story, Richards shares how FKEC connects with the local community on vegetation management. To learn more about vegetation management, check out T&D World's Vegetation Management Supplement, which is published in partnership with the Utility Arborist Association (UAA).

Part 2 of our Faces of the Future series for the Line Life Podcast takes us to western Kansas, where Theron Tucker is a fourth-year apprentice about to top out as a journeyman at Midwest Energy. Tucker, who competed at the International Lineman's Rodeo for the first time in 2023, was the PLP's Armor Rod Install Challenge champion at the 2023 International Lineman's Expo.

After graduating from Northwest Lineman College, he landed a job at his utility close to his hometown. During this episode, he talks about how his experience growing up on a ranch and operating farm equipment helped him in his career in the line trade.

To learn more about Theron, check out his profile, which appeared in T&D World magazine in our new Faces of the Future department. If you have an apprentice you would like to nominate for this department, email amyfischbach@gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you. 

In May 2024, T&D World not only included articles about wildfire mitigation in the annual Wildfire Supplement, but also in the print issue of the magazine. For this In Case You Missed It episode on the Line LIfe Podcast platform, we are featuring an audio version of the article, "Cutting Wildfire Risk."

In this story, Thuan Tran, Jesse Rorabaugh and Andrew Swisher of Southern California Edison (SCE) share how their utility is taking a multi-layered approach to effectively mitigating the wildfire challenge. For example, SCE is driving down the wildfire threat by hardening the grid to avoid or prevent faults that can result in potential ignitions.

Learn more by listening to the narrated version of this story on Podbean or reading the article on the T&D World website. 

To honor the up-and-coming lineworkers in the line trade, we launched a new department called Faces of the Future in T&D World magazine. Through this new podcast series, you can now hear the voices of these apprentices, who talk about their inspiration for working in the trade and their experiences learning on the job. 

The first up is Zackery Gough, a fourth-year apprentice for Pedernales Electric Cooperative in Texas. Zack won the apprentice division not once, but twice, at the International Lineman's Rodeo, and he's eligible to compete in the division once again this October. He talks about training at Northwest Lineman College, working in the intense Texas summer heat and working out in the field to keep the lights on for his community. 

To learn more about Zack, you can read his online profile, which appeared in T&D World magazine. 

For our latest episode in our In Case You Missed It (ICYMI) series for our Line Life Podcast on Podbean,  we are showcasing a narrated version of T&D World's April 2024 cover story, "LUMA Embarks on Island-Wide Work Plan."

This article explores how LUMA Energy is aiming to boost reliability and resiliency by focusing on vegetation clearing, automation and substation modernization in Puerto Rico. 

For more information, you can listen to a recent two-part series on our Line Life Podcast on Podbean featuring Dr. Shay Bahamirad, senior vice president T&D Strategy and Sustainability for LUMA Energy.

Part 1: LUMA's Power Grid Transformation in Puerto Rico Part 2: LUMA's Island-Wide Work Plan in Puerto Rico

We also published the article, "Powering Puerto Rico," in our 2023 Lineworker Supplement, and it is available as an audio story in our ICYMI series.