Storm Season is Trucking Toward Us!

Along with dazzling leaves and crisp blue skies, fall ushers in cooler nights, sudden rainstorms and hints of chilling things to come. We’re not talking about Halloween, or pumpkin spice potato chips – we’re thinking about storm season. In fact, we think about storm season all year long. Your PUD works throughout the year trimming trees, investing in infrastructure and stocking our warehouse to prepare for winter’s heavy weather.

We appreciate everyone’s patience during storms. Please know that we always work as hard as we can to bring your power on as quickly and safely as possible.

Some important reminders:

• Downed lines are dangerous. Stay at least 30 feet away from downed lines.  Always assume downed lines are energized. If you’re in your vehicle and power lines come in contact with it, call 9-1-1 and stay inside until help arrives if it’s safe to do so.
• Please be safe around crews. Our crews often work in tough conditions. Kindly slow down and give them room when you see crews or service trucks on local roadways this storm season.

For more safety tips, please view our Staying Safe page.

What’s what with PUD trucks?

Here are a few of our vehicles and what the crews may be up to when you see them out and about during an outage.

Service Truck
Two-person service crews assess damage and restore power when minor repairs can be made. Larger restoration jobs are passed on to line crews.

Bucket Truck
Four-person line crews handle the bulk of actual repairs. They are accompanied by flaggers as needed.

Flagger Truck
Flaggers support field work by keeping traffic safely flowing around work sites.

Digger Derrick Truck
Crews in these trucks support large jobs such as replacing power poles and setting padmount transformers.