DECATUR, Illinois (WAND) — High above the ground, Kris Fiedler is practicing to save lives.
"When I got out of the military, I was kind of missing that feeling of a brotherhood," he said.
Fiedler is a lineman apprentice with Ameren Illinois. This practice session of climbing a pole to save a dummy helps prepare him for a worst case scenario in his field — a colleague severely injured while working on power lines.
"When we're here training, we have to do it in under four minutes because they say that's the time [from when] someone stops breathing you have to start CPR," Fiedler said. "That's when the brain starts losing functions."
Despite the critical nature of the training, Fiedler is trying to improve his time for another reason — to win.
"I feel like I'm going to have to try pretty hard," he said. "I can't let my boys down."
Fiedler and others will represent Ameren Illinois at the International Lineman's Rodeo — an Olympics of sorts for line workers.
Ameren's manager of electric training Kevin Young has never competed, but he will be watching the next generation of workers show off their skills.
"There's a lot of showmanship...in what they're doing," he said. "[There's] a lot of technique involved and it's an opportunity for them to really take some pride in what they're doing...I mean, a bear can climb a pole, but what can he do when he gets up there?"
That bear truly has nothing on Fiedler during the pole-top rescue — probably because Fiedler isn't trying to eat the guy he's rescuing! But all jokes aside, he truly knows the reward from this job isn't in the awards — but rather the lives he and his brothers can impact.
"When the storm comes through and people are out of power, it's a really awesome feeling being up on that pole in the middle of the night, closing in a fuse and seeing people's lights come back on," Fiedler said. "It's an awesome feeling — especially when you're doing it with your brothers."
Fiedler and the rest of the Ameren Illinois team will compete Saturday in Overland Park, Kansas. To learn more about the International Lineman's Rodeo, click here.
