PLSO The Oregon Surveyor July/August 2021

8 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 44, No. 4 OrYSN Corner the system for safety, to protect first re - sponders so they could focus on fighting fires. Once areas were open to PGE, the survey team flew drones for reconnais - sance ahead of line crews—we put a drone in harm’s way instead of a person. The Riverside Fire encompassed a large area of our generating facilities up the Clack- amas River. PGE had to repair a wooden bridge over the Clackamas River at Fara- day Lake. We performed our monitoring survey on the bridge and will continue to monitor it during construction at the new Faraday Powerhouse. The Clackamas River is partially diverted into a nine-foot diameter pipe to serve the Oak Grove Powerhouse. The pipe sustained damage because of the fire. It was de-watered so repairs could bemade and so we could enter and assess existing damages within the pipe. This may have been the first time it has been dry in a hundred years. We entered the pipe via a small hatch into total darkness, and tra- versed control into the pipe too. We had to use paint marks on rivets for our con- trol points—the pipe steel was so strong it bent a hardened steel punch. We surveyed 600 feet of pipe, focusing on buckles and shears caused by shifting ground around the pipe. It smelled strangely like awet dog! After the ice storm, as utility surveyors, we were called on because we knowwhat we’re looking at in terms of transformers, wires, andother equipment and knowhow to take notes. We responded to custom- er calls that came in and made notes on site of what linemen needed to bring with themtofix or replace damaged equipment. We closed roads, talked to thousands of people, went through thousands of feet of caution tape, and ran out of cones more times than I can remember. As an orga- nization, PGE repaired or replaced nearly 400 miles of power line and almost 1,000 poles. PGE exhausted its own supply of poles and took delivery from utility crews from as far away as Wyoming. It was chal- lenging to communicate after the storm: People were depending on cell phones which saturated the network, and PGE ra- dio dispatch ran out of channels. I worked 12–18 hour days and turned in a time card with 105 hours on it that week, all while not having power at home for five days. People severely underestimate the power running through local transmission lines. Until a power line is stepped down by the transformer, it carries over 30 times the amount of power that you get at home. In urban areas, lines were laying onmetal fixtures around homes, like gutters, chain- link fences, and deck railings. You could lose limbs or die if you touched some- thing energized and grounded out. Treat every wire as if it’s a live wire! I’m glad they called on the survey group to do what we did. We already have a lot of contact with the public and are used to communicating on someone else’s level. We got to use our training and skills as utility surveyors to have a direct impact on continued T getting people’s electricity turned back on, which was very gratifying. Now, we have a lot of work to do as-builting the emer- gency fixes. Poles were being thrown in everywhere, and it’s important we make sure everything was put back in the right of way or our easements. I’m looking for- ward to getting back to our dam surveys, canal slides—the fun stuffwe get to do! x Russell Dodge is a land survey intern with his PLS application pending. He is a 2016 graduate of the Oregon Institute of Technology and is married to Rhonda Dodge, PLS, of ODOT. The Clackamas River is partially diverted into a nine-foot diameter pipe. A downed tower from a high-wind event in Madras in May.