‘I really do love my job’: Ga. lineman dies after equipment failure
GRIFFIN, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – A lineman working in Griffin died Wednesday morning after an equipment failure, according to the police department. Another was seriously injured.
Emergency officials were called to respond to an area near the intersection of Spalding and Little streets where they said Eric Weems died at the scene.
The other lineman, Trent Granger, was taken to the hospital with critical injuries, according to city officials.
The city of Griffin featured Weems in a video that was posted to Facebook in 2020. In it, he explains that he had been a lineman with the city for more than 10 years.
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“I really do love my job. I get to go out and do the things I love. I get to go outside, work with electricity and work with a bunch of guys, just like me … and help others and get paid for it. You can’t beat it,” Weems said in the video.
The fallen lineman explained that being a lineman could be a challenge and each job is like a puzzle they have to solve.
While he enjoyed the technical side and the detail-oriented side of the work, he said there was nothing like the fulfillment of helping a family restore their power and the gratitude they expressed.
Weems was part of a mutual aid crew that went to coastal North Carolina in 2018 when it was devastated by Hurricane Florence.
Despite the physical and mental demands of working 16-hour days, he said being part of that was gratifying.
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“You couldn’t buy that feeling – that’s a big part of why I do what I do,” Weems said.
In the city of Griffin’s video, Weems talked about the dangers associated with the work and explained they have to try to be as safe as possible.
“After you’ve been doing it for so long, it’s almost second nature,” he said. “But you have to remind yourself to watch out for things because every situation could be different. What worked yesterday may not work today.”
It is unclear what equipment failed or why the failure happened the day Weems died.
“Please keep the Griffin linemen and their families in your prayers at this time,” police said in a statement.
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