Safety Patrol

With everything going on in my neighborhood these days, with all of the workers coming and going, I know safety is probably the last thing on their minds.

This was apparent this past weekend when a FEMA truck almost caused another major set back in this recovery process.

This past weekend the guys from Cable Works Inc. from Georgia were running new cable for cable and internet access which just happens to run along my back fence line.

While they spent all day putting up guide wires and then pulling the actual cable, FEMA was there picking up large limbs and other debris.

The FEMA truck would fill up so fast they would only manage to pick up three to four homes at a time before having to leave, dump the load and return.

It was around four in the afternoon when I heard one of the cable guys in my back yard start to scream and yell. It was one of those bloody curling scream that just sends shivers up your spine.

I took off out of the house with our cordless phone in hand. I wanted to see what had happened and if I needed to call 911 and I didn’t want to have to run back into the house.

The poor man was hunkered down in the bucket of his truck screaming THE ROAD, THE ROAD!

He was telling one of the other men to get to the road to stop the FEMA truck from coming through and ripping the line of cable before they had a chance to pull it up and secure it.

Well the cable guy made it time, but the FEMA truck didn’t even stop. Even after being waved down to slow down he just kept right on going.

He not only hooked the cable line and pulled it right across my front yard but he also had the workers who were in the buckets on their trucks swaying from side to side. Even the electrical pole was moving.

When they finally got the truck to stop, the driver didn’t even realize he had hooked the line.

My neighbor across the street saw the whole thing and she was cussing a blue streak at the FEMA truck driver. I can’t even repeat what she called him. But it wasn’t very nice.

The driver just looked at the cable guys and didn’t even apologize. The cable guys were so shaken they just sat down in my yard. They had just worked all day to pull this wire and in three seconds it was all completely undone.

The only thing I could think to do was bring them the cold cokes from my fridge. I walked out side with the entire case and offered each one a can. They all took one. And each one thanked me too.

They said they were done for the day and would be back tomorrow to start all over again. I felt so bad for them.

So I thanked them once again for all they were doing to us and I appreciated them being here to help us.

The point to all of this is while the recovery it taking place, we all need to practice safety.
Everyone needs to be safe and watch what is going on. There are so many things that could have happened that day.

The R8 and R3 could have been in the front yard and the cable could have hit them. The driver could have not stopped in time and seriously hurt he guys in the buckets on their trucks.

So we all need to slow down and pay attention. We need to be mindful of others working in our area.

Let’s all just be safe.