Photo and Story by Dana Greig

 

This January, Idaho County Light and Power added two linemen to their line crew, now totaling eight. Both Idaho county natives, Trevor Medley, raised in Riggins, and Rusty Arnzen, raised in Grangeville, are glad to have returned to living in Idaho County full-time.

“We’ve both been away for a while,” explained Arnzen.

After attending lineman school in Meridian, Medley has spent the last 10 years of his career in the Pacific Northwest. Though, not quite at home in Idaho County, his time has mostly been spent working in Eastern Washington and Oregon.

Arnzen attended lineman school in Spokane, with his 12-year career thus far taking him all over the country, from New York to California.

 

“I was on all the big fires down in California a few years ago,” said Arnzen. “It was wild to see whole towns burnt down.”

Having both experienced a lot on the job serving other communities, Arnzen and Medley agree that their favorite aspect of working for ICLP so far is simply being back in Idaho County.

 

Their home base communities and ICLP alike are happy they have return as well.

 

“They fit in with the crew on day one which isn’t an easy thing to do with a bunch of linemen,” laughed Gabe Torres, ICLP Operations Manager.

 

Both have returned to their roots and established families within the county. Medley and his wife, Christon, have two sons, Gunner (6) and Tanner (4) and live in Slate Creek. Arnzen and his wife, Roxy, reside in Grangeville and have three children: Ryle (6) Abel (4) and Chaney (1).

 

Though working close to home has been a big improvement, linemen and their families are always making sacrifices for the work that needs done to keep the lives of their neighbors throughout the county running smoothly. The work of a lineman is often overlooked as a public service. That is until a storm hits, or an accident strikes, and the public is left without power. If you’re like nearly everyone in this country who relies heavily on power for everyday living, being cut-off from that resource can knock life sideways. Which means when there’s an emergency call, the responsibilities of the job come first for linemen.

 

Luckily for all of us Idaho County residents, both Arnzen and Medley, along with the rest of the ICLP linemen, are more than willing to go out into the elements on an emergency call. Serving those of us in need even when it would be much more comfortable to stay home. And yet, this way of serving others doesn’t come without sacrifice from the whole family.

 

“Sometimes with outages you have to miss important things with your family,” explained Medley.

Arnzen nodded in agreement that the most challenging aspect of being a lineman is the uncertainty of outages, and the way it can affect their families.

“Getting a phone call at one in the morning and not knowing when you’ll be back can be tough,” said Arnzen.

With the vastness of Idaho County, being called out in this area can mean hours on the road on top of the time it takes to fix issues once on site.

Along with restoring power during an outage, the work of a lineman helps people daily. From regular maintenance like changing out poles and replacing transformers to the infrastructure work of installing connections for new construction. All duties of a lineman can be dangerous, making attention to detail a crucial skill to have.

“Trevor and Rusty are both hard working and very knowledgeable as journeyman lineman,” explained Torres. “They bring a safe but fun attitude to the job.”

 

Which is why their communities are among those who are happy to have them return home.

 

Along with the opportunity to work close to home and being able to spend more time with their families, both are glad to have returned to the areas they grew up, where their lifelong hobbies can once again fill up their free time.

“Hunting, fishing, trapping, all the outdoor stuff,” said Medley as he listed he and his family’s favorite ways to spend their time.

“Being so close to the mountains to hunt and fish, raising a family, and raising cows,” listed Arnzen of his favorite activities.

The next time your power is restored, remember to thank these linemen, and the others working hard with ICLP, for the work they do and the sacrifices they make to keep your life running smoothly and your power on.