Doug Brecheisen

Peterson field tech for over ...

20

y   e   a   r   s

Doug works out of our
San Leandro store.
He is a highly sought after
field tech and often works as a
resident mechanic for
Independent Construction

"I worked the Bay Bridge Job over Labor Day ... "

I came to the shop on Friday to load up parts we might need and went back to work out at Independent. On the way home, my service truck overheated. I was determined I wasn't going to miss this thing so I managed to get the truck fixed well enough to get home. I got some sleep and headed out around 10p.m. I arrived at the staging area at the Oakland end of the bridge and drove around. Nobody seemed to care I was there so I parked under a light plant hoping it was obvious I was there if needed. From 12 midnight to 5 a.m. I tinkered with my truck thinking this was going to be a long 12 hours.

At 5 a.m. someone drove up in a pickup and said "You get to earn your money now." I thought I would be escorted up to the jobsite but - no. I was given instructions to go find a guard at the toll booth area and ask to be directed to the upper deck. I got up there and found one of Silverado's 330B excavators had blown a stick cylinder hose on top of the boom. Oil was everywhere. I climbed up on top and removed the hose. The customer's mechanic suggested I go to a hose shop in Berkeley. I was thinking "Absolutely not. Peterson better be able to take care of this". I drove back to our shop and got the hose made and picked up a large box of oil soak up pads. I returned and installed the hose and cleaned up the machine and the pavement.

That's when I realized they were rotating machines. Two were working on the bridge and two were parked behind. After awhile, the parked machines went to work and the other two were parked. I believe this was a strategy to ensure no surprises if one machine broke down and the replacement machine didn't work right. It looked like they had a lot of back up plans. I was told to stay right there from then on. I got to watch the job upclose until I left at noon when George took over.

Some of Peterson's photographers came by and gave me meal ticket tags. I guess there was a building below that was serving food to all the workers. I decided with my luck, if I went down there, something would happen and I wouldn't be by my truck. Since I was being paid double time to be on call, I wasn't going anywhere. Besides, I was well prepared with a cooler full of stuff. All in all, it seemed like a very well planned out job with a lot of back up plans. Even Peterson had an extensive back up plan. I had phone numbers for parts guys and extra mechanics in case I needed help. If you watch the time lapse video from above the tunnel, you can see me at the upper left of the screen. I'm the black splotch.     

back