POWERGRAMS

get a room at the inn, only to turn around and get "stranded" again. Two Alabama Power linemen gave their motel room in Birmingham to the O'Neal family of Lamar, Mo. "My parents are overwhelmed at the generosity and thoughtfulness of these young men," their daughter wrote. Judy Quick sent her "eternal gratitude" to the employee who gave up his room for "an 81-year-old woman who had been on the icy roads for 13 hours." Rather than reaching their own homes quickly, many Alabama Power workers helped strangers get out of trouble. Rick Nail, an executive with LBYD Inc., said a lineman pulled Nail's father's vehicle out of a ditch. "I wanted to let you know that you have some great guys out there doing whatever it takes to help folks," wrote Nail. Employees opened the doors of the Pell City Office to a trucker who became stranded in front of the building. And when students of the Alabama School of Fine Arts were hungry, new General Services Manager Jim Prestwood opened the company doors to feed more than 100 youths dinner on Jan. 28 and lunch the following day. "I am overwhelmed with gratitude," wrote Executive Director Michael Meeks. Fanning mentioned the charitable effort during an interview on Bloomberg News. The School of Fine Arts students were able to join the Alabama Power employees at Corporate Headquarters because of the quick action of Prestwood's staff, which began formalizing a plan as soon as it was apparent Birmingham would receive more snow than expected. Corporate Security Manager Randy Mayfield recalled the ice storm of Jan. 12, 1982 and the blizzard of March 13, 1993 as previous winter weather events that wreaked havoc in Alabama. Unlike those storms that caused massive power outages and took more than a week for complete restoration, the Jan. 28, 2014 storm brought few outages and quick resumption of power by Alabama Power crews. "I am certain this is a huge record for folks spending the night at Corporate Headquarters," Mayfield said. "We had people sleeping everywhere, making do with what we could supply and what they could scavenge like couches, cushions from the atrium, etc." Prior to the arrival of the snow, Alabama Power crews were stationed statewide to respond. Fortunately, said Power Delivery Distribution Management System Manager Brian Lindsay, the outages were "routine, the numbers we would see on a normal weather day." Danny Glover, vice president of Distribution, said recent improvements to the system have helped it withstand problems brought on by bouts of severe cold weather. Unfortunately for members of Mayfield's and Weaver's teams, life was anything but routine at Corporate Headquarters, where stranded employees faced unplanned medical issues. Three nurses were on hand to help with medications and a notice was sent seeking insulin, but more pressing was the needs of a pregnant employee. Workers de-iced and prepared the landing pad for an emergency helicopter, which safely landed and transported the woman to an area hospital. "I want to express my appreciation to our entire Alabama Power family, for everything you do and have done, whether you've been called out to assist in storm restoration, answered customer calls through the night or were stuck in an office and unable to get home," McCrary wrote employees. "Thank you again for your dedication, for your commitment to our customers and for caring for one another." By Chuck Chandler PAG E 5 5 Employees stranded at snowed-in Corporate Headquarters lined up for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Line crews kept outages to a minimum statewide. Children slept over with parents.

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