Working with the Navajo Nation to Bring Power to Another 60 Homes
By Bowen Xie
LADWP electric line crews recently shared personal stories of how they’ve been transformed after returning to New Mexico to work with the Navajo Nation for a second mutual aid training to bring electricity to 60 homes. This project, which took place from September 26 through December 18, 2022, was the second time LADWP line crews have worked with the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA).
Eleven LADWP crews consisting of 76 individuals were deployed to Navajo Nation land near Four Corners, New Mexico to participate in the training program. The crews gained valuable experience working in challenging conditions, including adverse weather and isolated locations from before sunrise to well after sunset. During their time there, crews installed 65 service panels, 350 poles, 312 spans of primary and neutral conductors, 57 transformers and energized 60 homes.
In the previous mutual aid training back in 2020, LADWP crews provided electricity to about 80 families of the Navajo Nation—a first for many families who have gone without electricity in their homes their entire lives—while participating in a mutual aid training exercise with NTUA in rural and rugged parts of New Mexico.
Mutual aid is an agreement between agencies that establishes the terms under which one party provides resources—personnel, teams, facilities, equipment and supplies—to another party. This system is an extension of the concept of “neighbor helping neighbor.” LADWP offered labor and expertise to the Navajo Nation in order to help build up their electric infrastructure, and as a result, our crews gained experience in working in remote areas, rugged terrain, unfamiliar weather conditions and other adverse conditions.
“As we worked with and around the community members of the Navajo Nation, we gradually got to know each other better. After hearing about their struggles, we all knew we couldn’t just stand by and do nothing. We pulled together our resources and did whatever we could to help the community beyond connecting them to the grid. I’ll never forget the joy and gratitude we received from the people of the Navajo Nation and I’m sure none of the other crew members will either.”
Matthew Schneider, Senior Electric Distribution Mechanic
In one instance, upon completing a service panel installation job and finding out the NTUA customer would not have powerlines installed to energize the new panel for over a year, LADWP crew members pitched in to purchase and install a new generator for the Navajo Nation resident, who also shared with LADWP crews about her recent struggles with losing her job and experiencing homelessness. LADWP line workers also purchased and dropped off food baskets to the homes of all the Navajo families with whom they worked. A group of employees who were deployed to Four Corners right before Christmas donated food to several families as well as a collection of three thousand dollars for the community. This money paid for Christmas gifts, fire wood and heat for their homes, with enough to also pay for their upcoming electric bills to their utility provider.
“After the tremendous success of the last mutual aid training with the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, we were honored to be invited back to the Navajo Nation for another round of training,” said Brian Wilbur, LADWP Senior Assistant General Manager of Power System Construction, Maintenance, and Operations. “These trainings provide LADWP crew members the opportunity to experience the challenges of being deployed to work in remote locations, where the terrain is unstable and the environment is harsh.”
“Our crews gained a lot of experience that will be essential to our future disaster response, but the lasting impact it had on them affected them on a much deeper level. They may not remember how many poles they set or how many transformers they installed or how much wire they put in the air, but they're all going to remember the look on the families' faces when the lights turned on for the very first time. How they felt as tears filled the families’ faces and how the families thanked them for something most people take for granted.”
Brian Wilbur, LADWP Senior Assistant General Manager of Power System
“I had the opportunity to visit Navajo Nation and meet many of our line workers and members of the Navajo Nation. It was a moving experience to meet the people whose lives were being changed through this effort,” said Cynthia Ruiz, Vice President of Los Angeles Board of Water and Power Commissioners. “One of the things I was most excited about was to see the Navajo Nation crews, who were mostly women, working side by side with our crews. They came together to make this happen and it was beautiful.”
View photos from the mutual aid training below.
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