2 minute read
Band Of Brothers: Putting It All On The Line
A lot of planning goes into a wedding, but you can’t prepare for everything, especially a Category 4 hurricane.
Cody Fortson, an apprentice lineman with Wiregrass Electric Cooperative, was getting ready for his upcoming nuptials as Hurricane Michael made landfall a few days before the ceremony.
When a storm of such magnitude hits, everyday life is placed on hold, even preparations for a wedding. And Fortson was not the only one who embraced a commitment to the cooperative. Charlie Daugherty, who holds a storekeeping and warehouse position at WEC, was preparing to bury his mother in Florida. Billy Tingle, a working foreman, was vacationing in the Smoky Mountains.
This is a verse that illustrates the spirit of WEC’s employees.
A vow to serve
Knowing what he had to do, Fortson worked up until the day of his wedding in Andalusia, about an hour from Hartford. He returned to work the day after saying, “I do.”
“I woke up early in the morning and headed back to Hartford,” Fortson says. “There wasn’t another option in my mind. My wife is very supportive and understanding. She knows what goes with this job. It was a crazy first week of marriage. When something hits your home like this, there is only one thing to do, and that is to go to work and do all you can.”
A solemn sacrifice
Even while going through his own personal loss, Daugherty put others first. He talked with his family, and they decided to postpone his mother’s funeral until things were a little better.
“I knew that our system was going to take a hit,” Daugherty says. “During something like this, we do anything and everything we can to get the lights back on. We try to do our best. We work long hours. These guys go above and beyond.”
Daugherty’s role in the warehouse ensures that linemen in the field have the resources needed to perform their jobs. When ordering poles, transformers and anything else linemen need, it all goes through the warehouse.
“We do all the receiving, so when it comes in, we’ve got to check it off, put it in stock in the computers and put it up on the shelves,” Daugherty says. “We pull all the jobs for our crews to get them ready in the morning. I work out of the Hartford office, but we also have an Ashford office that has a crew, so we take care of that warehouse, too.
“I love the camaraderie between all the guys. They’re like brothers,” Daugherty says. “The whole company is just good people.”
WEC linemen Billy Tingle and Tim Sanders prepare to restore power to members on the day Hurricane Michael made landfall.
A quick trip
Tingle was hundreds of miles away, vacationing with his family on an annual trip. He knew what he had to do.
“That’s my job. I have a responsibility,” Tingle says. “My wife understood 100 percent. She’s been with me for a long time, and I’ve been doing this for 20 years.”
Trading in the fall foliage and mountain air for the aftermath of a hurricane might cause some to hesitate. But not Tingle.
“As linemen, we have a sense of helping others in general,” he says. “When it’s in your blood, it’s just there. You want to do it. You want to help others. I enjoy it, and I wouldn’t have any other job.”
Charlie Daugherty's job in the warehouse is crucial to making sure crews have all the supplies and tools they need.
