During a storm, crews work to restore power to the greatest number of members in the shortest time possible. In this case, we would start at the substation first. Then we’d patrol 3 phases of lines and then a single phase. We often get out of our trucks to patrol lines. Sometimes that means walking long distances in the snow or rain.
Sometimes it means dragging a power pole into an area with a backhoe when a line truck won’t fit. After assessing the damage, we make repairs to restore power to all the individual members of the main distribution line. It doesn’t do any good to repair a single tap or individual member’s line when the 3 phases line feeding it is down.