P&C Technician Receives Hero Award For Averting Disaster in Louisiana

Jeff Nelson (left), AEP Transmission Protection & Control electrician, receives the AEP Hero Award from Daryll Jackson, Protection & Control supervisor.

(Story by Sara Hebert)

AEP Transmission P&C Electrician Jeff Nelson recently received the AEP Hero Award for his efforts in preventing a potentially fatal accident while a city crew in Shreveport, Louisiana, was working to replace a sewer line.

“I was down here (in the substation) taking notes on a breaker that we’re going to change,” Nelson recounted. “I was inside and I heard the boom and the arc flash. It scared me and I came out of the breaker — and I could see a woman looking down that way. I could see the smoke. I heard the breaker trip, then close back. I ran down to the corner of the fence, and I just saw the arc and fire coming off the track hoe.”

Nelson called Distribution Dispatch and quickly discovered that Distribution did not have SCADA control; so, he tripped the breaker. That was the first time that he noticed the people standing nearby and that the track hoe operator had remained in his seat until the arc flash went out.

“They were standing right beside it. It was all around them. At least six or seven people were out there when it was burning,” Nelson recalled. “When you’re in a substation and you hear a ball of fire like that, you’re getting the hell out of the way.”

Daryll Jackson, Protection & Control supervisor, nominated Nelson and made the AEP Hero Award presentation.

“I really appreciated what he’s done,” said Jackson. “A lot of people would have just went on about their job, and said, ‘That’s got nothing to do with me.’ But Jeff took the initiative to look around and see what was going on. It easily could have been a bad situation.”