Everyday heroes help out during gas outage

April 14, 2011—When the emergency call came in to the Lab’s Maintenance and Site Services (MSS) Division on February 4, Division Leader Sue Waylett and her team were concerned.

About 32,000 New Mexicans had lost natural gas service in the midst of a deep freeze. Many of them were Laboratory employees and their families living in the Española Valley, Taos, Dixon, and Red River. 

New Mexico Gas Company workers driving out to hundreds of homes in unfamiliar, often rural, areas to turn off gas meters were overwhelmed. In despair, the business agent for the Plumbers & Steamfitters Local Union 412 called the Laboratory, asking whether it could help.

LANL steps up

It could—and it did. “We deeply care about Northern New Mexico, so when the natural gas crisis happened, we knew we had to lend a hand,” said Deputy Laboratory Director Ike Richardson.

The MSS team immediately took action: while ensuring that a skeleton crew of workers stayed on the hill to oversee regular operations, protect Lab facilities from “freeze offs,” and make sure that the Lab’s gas system stayed up and running, they rounded up a highly skilled group of volunteers and provided them with vehicles and equipment.

“Our managers, like Sue Waylett and John Merhege, Brian Watkins, Andrew Brenner, Kevin Graham, and many others were just great,” said gas foreman Herman Madrid, Jr. of MSS. “Thanks to them, we didn’t have to use our own vehicles or tools—the Lab provided it all.”

The Laboratory also paid volunteers full wages during the emergency. “The Lab really stepped up,” said MSS’s Jorge Guerra, adding, “We were so proud of our director, our deputy director, and our managers.”

The volunteers initially believed they’d receive reduced wages through New Mexico Gas Co., explained Ray Lujan, a superintendant in Central Shop Operations (MSS-CS). Lujan, who stayed at the Lab to supervise 315 mechanical and electrical craft employees, continued, “The men were OK with that—all they wanted to do was to help out—but it was a wonderful thing when the Lab let them know that they’d be paid regular wages.”

“Mad hours”

After completing training at New Mexico Gas Co., 35 Lab plumbers and pipefitters began working around the clock to deal with the emergency situation. “We’d work for 16, 17 hours,” said Madrid, who, as a pipefitter at the Lab, is following in his father’s footsteps. “And after we clocked out, we’d still be helping people."

MSS's Art Sparks agreed. “There’d be people standing by the side of the street waiting for us, desperate to have their gas relit,” he said. “Driving home late one night, I got a call from my wife. She’d heard of an old lady who didn’t have her gas back yet. I detoured to relight her gas and also her neighbors’ gas. I didn’t get home until 2 a.m. that morning.”

“We were working mad hours—16 to 20 hours a day,” said MSS plumber Eric Martinez, a single father of four whose mother was watching his kids while he helped out. Martinez added that he slept for 15 hours straight after the emergency had passed.

“It was the adrenaline that kept us going,” said Guerra, who was completing Hazardous Waste and Emergency Response standard (HAZWOPER) refresher training when the call for volunteers came in. “When we finally came back and had to do the paperwork, that’s when it hit me how tired I was.” 

Volunteers receive praise

The men’s sacrifices did not go unnoticed. “I’d like to recognize the LANL employees who spent many hours assisting our Northern New Mexico neighbors. I commend them for their dedication and selflessness,” Richardson said. Waylett added,  “I am proud of our work force and their willingness to work long hours in a challenging environment to help members of surrounding communities.”

Though Lab employees worked as hard as they could, isolating hundreds of gas meters and then relighting them took time. “We tried to help everyone until finally New Mexico Gas Co. told us to go home and get some rest,” Madrid said. “I remember we couldn’t relight one house in Española because it was so late. That’s what really hurt, what really stayed with me—the house we couldn’t relight that night.” Martinez added, “Some of the people we saw were cold, cold, cold—it really broke your heart to see them.”

While some of the volunteers, like Sparks, Madrid, and Martinez, had propane gas and weren’t affected by the gas outage, others, like Guerra, felt the cold. “Right after I finished the HAZWOPER training, I called my wife in Hernandez and told her to buy space heaters,” he said. “But everything was already sold out.” Guerra’s family tried to stay warm with one small propane heater and, for the next few days, heated water in the microwave oven for sponge baths. “That got old really fast,” said Guerra, smiling wryly. “I never realized how good we had it until we lost our gas.” 

Residents celebrate

When residents had their gas relighted, they rejoiced. “The appreciation we got was incredible,” said Sparks. “People gave us homemade cookies and tortillas.” Guerra added, “Everyone was so happy to see us—it was like a celebration.”

Volunteers said that the Lab’s handling of the emergency situation, which included not only sending out volunteers, but also conserving energy by shutting down the Lab’s big computing facilities and the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center, helped unite Los Alamos and its Northern New Mexico neighbors. “It was a tremendous collective effort,” Lujan said. “The Laboratory and the communities really came together. It was great to be a part of that.”

LAAP Award

This week, Waylett recognized MSS workers who helped out during the emergency with a Los Alamos Awards Program (LAAP) Award. They are

Manny Archuleta Eugene Barela Dennis Bernal Eric Carmona Gabe Chavez Matt Durkin Ben Esquibel Ray Gallegos Julian J.Garcia Julian L. Garcia Shane Green Frank Griego

Jorge Guerra Rafael Gutierrez Ralph Gutierrez Robert Heller Sam Herrera Calob Hinkle Steve Lavery Herman Madrid, Jr. Eric Martinez Glenn Martinez Joseph Mondragon Robert Moore

Carl Montoya Mike Ocobock Scott Pacheco Phil Roybal Ron Skowlund Jose Ulibarri Elmo Valdez Lawrence Valdez Vernon Valdez Vianes Valdez Andrew Vigil