BEC's Employees Are Part of the Community

Keeping the electricity on is a lineworker’s main responsibility, but every member of Bandera Electric Coopertive crews lives and works right here in our community. They’re volunteer firefighters, youth league coaches and Scout leaders.

And sometimes their training is put to work in lifesaving ways.

Take John Hert, for example. The Central Texas lineworker was finishing lunch and refilling his drink at a diner in Kingsland back in February when he heard a commotion in the restroom area.

“I heard somebody say, ‘Hey, she’s choking!’ ” Hert said.

He sprang into action, putting his training to work and performing the Heimlich maneuver, which he had never had to administer in his 19 years as an EMT.

A lifelong co-op member who was at the restaurant with her husband and mother had run to the restroom to dislodge a piece of food and was struggling to breathe. Her husband was yelling for help.

“I told him that I could help,” said Hert, who left a firefighting career to work as a lineworker. After several attempts, Hert was able to dislodge the food from her airway. “We got her to a chair and sat her down, and her color immediately started coming back,” he said. “It gives you a good feeling that her family was so appreciative and that your actions kept her alive.”

Of course, it’s not every day that lineworkers get the chance to save a life, but we do depend on them day in and day out to light our lives. Our lineworkers go through vigorous training not only on how to build, repair and maintain our electric system but on how to do it safely. That training includes courses in first aid and emergency response, so they’re always ready to help their fellow lineworkers in an emergency—or their neighbor, fellow co-op member or a stranger.

BEC employees work in all conditions, around the clock, to keep our lives powered, and they’re a valuable part of our community.