Lewis Insights

Sometimes, it is about hearing something others might miss. Sometimes, it is about trusting your instincts. And sometimes, it is about being in the right place, in the worst conditions, and still choosing to do the right thing.

That is exactly what happened during a recent storm response assignment involving Lewis crews working across New York. The week had already been long before the storm call came in. Crews had worked Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday leading into the holiday. Then, at 3 a.m., they received the call to report for storm response in Plattsburgh.

From there, the work continued. After Plattsburgh, the crews moved to the Chatham area for additional storm work. By Sunday morning, they were sent again, this time to the Brewster area. It was the kind of week storm teams know well: long hours, unpredictable conditions, little downtime, and a constant focus on doing the job safely.

By the time the incident happened, the weather was brutal. Rain had been coming down hard all day and into the night. The wind was up. The power was out. The area was pitch black. One of Jordan Foote’s crews was out overnight on a ticket when two crew members, Adam Peretta and Travis Whitmarsh, heard something faint through the rain and wind. At first, it was difficult to make out. It almost sounded like someone yelling for help. In those conditions, it would have been easy to miss. Easy to assume it was the wind. Easy to keep moving. But something did not feel right.

Adam and Travis stopped, listened, and paid attention. Then they called Jordan Foote, their General Foreman, and explained what they had heard. Jordan responded to the location. 

When he arrived, he could not hear it at first either. Then it happened again. A faint voice, somewhere in the darkness. Jordan began investigating and realized there was a house nearby, nearly hidden in the blackness of the outage. As he got closer, the sound became clearer. Someone inside was calling for help.

Jordan knocked on the door, and the cry grew louder. Inside was an elderly woman who needed help. Jordan asked if he could enter the home, and she said yes. But the doors were locked. He checked for another way in. The back door was locked too. Then he noticed one possible option: an open window, roughly 12 feet off the ground. Jordan called in another nearby crew to assist. Roger Cobb and Arian Hadfield responded. Together with Adam, they helped lift Jordan up to the window so he could climb inside.

What Jordan found inside was heartbreaking.

The elderly woman was on the floor with a broken hip. No one knew exactly how long she had been there. It may have been days since the storm first hit. The crew immediately called 911 and stayed with her until EMS and police arrived.

That night, in the middle of storm response, in the dark, in the rain, after days of demanding work, this crew did something extraordinary.

They noticed.
They listened.
They acted.
They worked together.

And because they did, someone who desperately needed help was found.

Storm response is difficult work. It asks a lot from the people who do it. Long hours. Tough conditions. Time away from home. Changing locations. Little certainty about what the next ticket, the next road, or the next night will bring. But this story shows something deeper. It shows the kind of people who make up our field teams.

Mark Knowles, who shared the story, said it best. On storm response, the message is always safety first. No one is out there to be reckless. No tree is worth risking a life over. The goal is to work slow, work safe, and make sure everyone gets home the same way they came.
But that night, safety and courage worked together.

This crew did not ignore a faint cry in the darkness. They did not assume someone else would handle it. They did not walk away from a situation that felt wrong. They followed the sound. They called for support. They found a way in. And they stayed until help arrived.

That is character.
That is teamwork.

That is what it means to do the right thing when no one is watching.

A special thank you goes to Jordan Foote, Adam Peretta, Travis Whitmarsh, Roger Cobb, and Arian Hadfield for their actions that night. Their work went far beyond storm cleanup. They represented the best of Lewis — steady under pressure, focused on safety, willing to help, and committed to the communities we serve. This is the kind of story that deserves to be shared, not just because of what happened, but because of what it says about the people behind the work.

Storm response often puts our crews in difficult places at difficult times. But again and again, they show up with professionalism, grit, and heart.
That night in Brewster, a crew heard a voice in the dark. And they answered. That is a Job Done Right.