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Teamwork In Action
February 2,1998
In the early evening of Monday, February 2, 1998 an extremely violent line of storms moved through northern Miami-Dade and southern Broward counties. The weather, out of character for the season, spawned tornados and hurricane-like winds that damaged or destroyed 200 aircraft at Miami International, Opa-locka and North Perry airports. The damage to Florida Power & Light’s system also was swift and extensive. More than 600,000 customers were affected. Based on preliminary forecasts that day, FPL had alerted their crews. But damage assessments Monday night quickly prompted FPL to call on its contractors.
Megatran president Michael Acosta and a few key people were upstate in Central Florida that night, having joined other contractors and FPL administrators for meetings. They got word at 10:00 p.m.—FPL needed help quickly in South Florida.
Acosta and his colleagues used Megatran’s state-wide radio system and telephones to identify 30 employees and support personnel qualified to assist FPL. They contacted 26 of them, and all reported to Megatran’s yard at midnight. (One of them was a foreman on vacation!) They reported to FPL’s West Dade Service Center, received trouble tickets and got to work.
Although tired, the Megatran crews worked 20 hours, until 8:00 p.m. Tuesday. The remainder of that week, the crews worked 6:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m. or later. They replaced overheard secondary drops, changed out transformers and replaced meters, all in teamwork with FPL Customer Contact Representatives, Engineers, Managers and Dispatchers. Testimony to Megatran’s attention to safety training, its crews worked over 1,500 man-hours in potentially hazardous conditions without an accident.
As it had after Hurricane Andrew, Megatran showed how Florida Power & Light and other utilities can count on this contractor to respond quickly with personnel qualified to do quality work, carry through to completion and do so safely.
They can rely on Megatran
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