Coworker's Lifesaving Rescue Comes 54 Years After His Father, a PG&E Lineman, Saved Two Boys

By Andria Borba

MARYSVILLE - It was Friday, July 12, and compliance inspector Bryon Jones had finished his work for the day in Marysville and was driving away when something caught his eye - a service line that looked disconnected.

"I noticed it. I went down the road, came back and I looked at it again," said Jones, a 46-year PG&E coworker.

Bryon parked and found that, indeed, a service wire was down and energized in a front yard. The first thing he did was make the situation safe. He grabbed his personal protective equipment and then taped up the end of the wire, but he realized that the service wire was not connected to the home in front of him. He started walking, trying to determine which home the wire belonged to.

While he was walking, he noticed a small, handwritten sign in a window of a nearby home that read "HELP." Jones walked to the front door to investigate.

"I knocked on her door and it took awhile, but eventually this elderly lady comes to the door," Jones recounted. He asked if she needed help and if she'd spoken to PG&E "She said, 'No. I've been out of power since Thursday, and it's very hot inside my house.'"

The temperature outside was 114 degrees.

Jones called PG&E's Fresno dispatch and requested a troubleman come to his location. Help was on the way and, within an hour, power and air conditioning was restored to the 76-year-old customer, who was suffering from severe edema.

"It was really a stroke of luck that I just happened to see the wire, because the crepe myrtle tree was kind of blocking it. But I saw a wire hanging and I thought, 'What is that?'" Jones said.

His supervisor, Josh Castellanos, belives there was nothing lucky about the catch.

"I think it's Bryon's experience that caught that. He wasn't on his map. That wasn't anything to do with his work. I think most people without that many years of experience, without Bryon's natural instinct and caring - most people would not have stopped or caught that."

Both are grateful that Jones was in the right place at the right time.

"I'm so grateful Bryon caught this. I shudder to think what could have happened if this went on another day in that heat," his supervisor said. "I'm glad that she's OK."

If you think Jones' story is remarkable - know that it is in fact generational.

His father, James Jones, was a PG&E employee as well. He received a John A. Britton Award for his heroism.

On Jan. 6, 1970, when James was a lineman working near Dinuba, a father driving a car with two toddlers in the backseat stopped to see what the PG&E crews were working on. While he was talking to the crews, his car rolled and plunged into an icy Tulare County reservoir and floated to the opposite bank with the two little boys inside.

Then, the car began to sink.

Clad in his full safety gear, including nearly knee-high climbing boots, James jumped in the water and swam to the car. He pried open the car door, pulled out the little boys and swam back to shore carrying both to safety.

Jones says his dad, now 87-years-old, still tears up when he talks about that night.

Putting the safety of customers above self isn't just a PG&E virtue. It's part of the Jones' family DNA.

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