Hurricane Irma: Utility crews stream into Florida for hurricane payday, adventure
Nick Chilelli had been driving his utility truck with a broken air conditioner for about 18 hours, all the way from Cincinnati, when his convoy got trapped behind a car wreck just outside Orlando, Florida, at about 2 a.m. Saturday morning.
They were among thousands of line workers racing through the night to stage their trucks and tools for Hurricane Irma, a monstrous storm expected to knock out power to half of the nation’s third most-populous state.
They had been told to expect to work at least a month of straight 16-hour days, with no breaks, trying to restore power to millions of homes.
Many of the journeyman linemen, as their union calls them, savoured both the financial opportunity and the adventure of racing into a historic hurricane.
“I’ll probably make 30 grand this month,” said Chilelli, 48. “Everybody out here is killing it. Of course, you’re dealing with something that could kill you any minute.”
He has good use for the money. As he chased work in the storm, Chilelli left his wife behind with a new foster child, 11-month old Gage.
A far bigger threat to the electric grid than Hurricane Harvey in Texas, Irma threatens to knock out power to more than 4.1 …read more
