Most residents of Bandera County take reliable electricity for granted. BEC linemen work to keep residents’ air conditioners running and the lights on, even in violent winter and stormy spring weather.
“Keeping the power on all the time for our members is one of the most important parts to our job,” said Jesse Salazar, BEC foreman.
Salazar, a 16-year veteran, extols the virtues of the job. He agrees that being a lineman has turned into a passion.
“I was working in construction but a buddy of mine asked me if I was interested in being a lineman. I had no clue, but I decided to take the opportunity to get in the door. From there it turned into a passion.”
He continued, “I call it my passion because I learned to do my trade well and feel that the majority of my adult life that is what I have been doing. It brings pride and it’s a commitment for me to bring reliable power to our membership.”
Springtime is the most active time for the linemen when storms roll through Texas.
Some of the things that challenge Salazar are particular to the job of a lineman. “What really hit me was that you are on call 24/7. Even though you get paid to be on call, there are lots of truck accidents that take out poles, lightning storms that come in, sometimes you have to work overtime for the number of hours you put in in a week. Every day you will be at a different site. The poles may look the same, but they have different variables. It’s the little stuff that you have to consider.”
Safety is paramount for linemen.
“It is part of your life.” Linemen frequently attend safety meetings and “you have to remember to be safe,” he explained. “We were working at a site when a storm came north of Leakey and the rain was continuous. Sometimes you can wait it out in the truck, but this shower looked like it was going to be continuous all over Texas.”
“We had to go ahead and work through the rain and get used to it. Of course, there was lightning all around, so you always hear stories of people getting electrocuted in storms. Sometimes you just have to work through the rain to restore
the lights.”
Salazar states “you can be working on a line that is de-energized, but lightning hits the line miles away and can travel through the line.” It goes without saying that being a lineman is a dangerous job.
Salazar notes that sitting behind a desk for long periods
of time or wanting to get a four-year degree is not the kind of person who succeeds at being a lineman.
“You just have to want to get in there and get your hands dirty,” he states.
It took Salazar five years to progress through his apprenticeship to be a journeyman.
He related that it takes about a year to work through each step in the apprenticeship to become a journeyman.
After accruing eight thousand hours as a journeyman, you can turn that in to the Department of Labor
and get a certificate to become a journeyman lineman throughout the nation.
“For me, I like the inside work in the mornings, then to be outside in the afternoon seeing the different types of scenery.
Living in the Hill Country is one of the perks of being a lineman.”
“We start the new guys out on the ground learning and see if they really are going to pursue this career field. After attending some schools, you start to advance as far as learning to work at heights and work with smaller voltages.”
During this stage of training, linemen are evaluated on whether they can work at heights and whether they are afraid of the electricity.
The job starts on the ground where the linemen observe the situation to determine what the issue is or what can be the problem.
“Ninety percent of the time you can tell from the ground what the issue is. Once you determine what the problem is you go up the pole with a plan and the solution to resolve it,” says Salazar. Troubleshooting from the ground is key to keeping the lines in good order. The crews also use drones to check the lines.
Salazar is married with four children. His wife feels a part of the linemen community and she hears all the stories.
“It’s a different culture that we are around. She knows that it is a dangerous job. She trusts in the safety procedures and knows that I have the right mentality to stay safe.”
Two of his four children have already expressed interest in becoming linemen.
The BEC loans out linemen to areas in need during emergency situations. One of the values of being in a cooperative is that BEC believes in “cooperatives helping cooperatives.”
BEC has sent linemen to Paris, Texas to help restore power to normal after an ice storm. Crews even went to Haiti to help restore power after Hurricane Mathew in 2016.
“If we have the resources then we do lend a hand,” stated Kati Fizpatrick, BEC media specialist. “Sometimes they send crews abroad to give help. This is through the National Rural Electric Association. We have done extensive work locally.”
BEC has 22 linemen, from groundmen up to foremen. Each crew is from 5 to 7 people. The head of each crew is the line foreman.
For more information on BEC linemen, check out the profile of BEC fifty-year veteran lineman Neil Schaffer in the May issue of the Bandera Electric Coop magazine.
- Jesse Salazar, BEC foreman
“...I HAVE THE RIGHT
MENTALITY TO STAY SAFE.”
- Jesse Salazar, BEC foreman
“NINETY PERCENT OF THE
TIME YOU CAN TELL FROM THE GROUND WHAT
THE ISSUE IS. ONCE YOU DETERMINE WHAT THE
PROBLEM IS YOU GO UP THE POLE WITH A PLAN & THE SOLUTION TO RESOLVE IT”
- Jesse Salazar, BEC foreman
