Shifting Roles for a Storm

Our employees work across a wide range of roles — from engineering and operations to customer service and corporate support.

But when a storm approaches, everything changes.

We activate our storm response and many of our employees take on temporary storm roles that are quite different from their day-to-day responsibilities.

Meet Darshan Murphy

As a supervisor in field engineering, Darshan Murphy is on the road often, sometimes visiting up to three locations a day. He leads a team of substation engineers who maintain and repair substation equipment.

During a major storm, he is on the road as a public safety specialist. His job is to work with local police and fire departments to help clear blocked roads of any of our electrical equipment — poles, wires and transformers — as quickly and safely as possible.

He serves as a liaison between police, fire personnel and lineworkers, who secure the scene to ensure it is safe for equipment to be moved off the road and/or for trees to be cut.

If a tree crew is needed, he waits for them to arrive. He departs once the tree crew has removed any limbs, branches or debris, and any damaged electrical equipment is cleared from the road — allowing police and fire personnel, and eventually the public, to safely pass through.

“I'm the first to sign up [for the job]. I’ll have my truck packed, and I’m burning rubber out of my driveway. It’s never boring,” he said. 

In many instances, he uses his Eversource vehicle to block roads and keep people away from damaged equipment or downed wire.

“I use my vehicle as a safety tool,” he said. “I have a picture of me blocking the road with a wire arcing in the background. Until line trucks or the fire department show up, I'm the only line of defense. When you have an active wire going zzzzz in the road, it’s my truck and my brain protecting everyone else. That’s why it's so satisfying — because I'm keeping everyone safe. That’s my job.”