When a major storm rips through our service area, everyone helps. Often unnoticed are the employees who take on the role of damage assessor.
A damage assessor surveying downed trees and wires after a storm.
The first step in our restoration process is to assess the damage after a storm. Damage assessors look for downed power poles and wires, damaged transformers and other electrical equipment.
“Most of the time, the initial assessment is performed by two employees in a pickup or other small vehicle” said Scott Bennett, Region Support Manager and amid storm restoration I&M’s Incident Commander. “These highly-trained employees go out first to look at the damage and help determine what type of crew and what equipment is needed for restoring power for affected customers. Assessors also evaluate any other issues that may impact the restoration work.”
Meter electricians, customer design technicians, engineers and underground line (network) mechanics are among the employees who switch roles during storm restoration. Working in two-person teams, they investigate major issues on circuits – such as locating where a downed tree or power pole and relaying that hazard to crews.
“This is vital to an efficient and safe storm restoration,” Bennett said. “Assessors share the extent of the damage and collaborate with other planning groups to determine an adequate number and type of line workers arrive at the right location. Having a sound assessment helps set an estimated time of restoration for our customers to plan around an outage.”
Often, damage assessors will walk the entire length of a power line to look for hazards, but they have help.
“Drones reach equipment faster and keep damage assessors and technicians out of dangerous areas,” said Kirk Eisert, Distribution Project Support supervisor. “The drones provide a detailed assessment of those hard-to-reach areas that would otherwise take hours for crews to perform on the ground.”
The drone team consists of 9 certified pilots and 8 drones. On average, I&M has 60 damage assessors ready for storm restoration.
Whether it’s from the sky or on the ground, rest assured I&M is working safely and quickly to restore your power.
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