The home heating oil industry has a long and proud history, and Fuel Oil News has been there supporting it since 1935. It is an industry that has faced many challenges during that time. In its 77th year, Fuel Oil News is doing more than just holding
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www.fueloilnews.com | FUEL OIL NEWS | AUGUST 2016 37 F or contractors in Fairbanks, Alaska, there's a unique set of challenges beyond brutal cold. As temps drop into the -50°F range and winds easily exceed 30 or 40 MPH, accumulating snow and ice literally change the landscape. Lakes and rivers become harder than terra firma. The length of daylight changes at a rate of seven minutes per day, culminating in winter solstice, when a gray half- light illuminates the town for only an hour. At summer solstice, the sun blazes for 23 hours. The 17 employees at Rocky's Heating Service, Inc. take the rigors of winter in stride; business as usual since the company's inception in 1994. Rocky's reputation as the premier heating outfit in town keeps the company running full-tilt for nine months of the year. A reprieve comes over summer. When duty doesn't call, the office gets sparse as everyone pursues their favorite brand of outdoor recreation. As wild as life can be in Fairbanks, the technicians at Rocky's get an assignment every so often that pushes the limits on what even they consider routine. In February 2014, the tribal leaders in the remote native village of Tanana called for help. A boiler in their Counseling Center was leaking a few gallons of water each day, and consuming oil at a gluttonous pace. Six other boilers and three water heaters in the village needed service work, as well. After flying his bush plane the 280-mile round trip over uninhabited wilderness to assess the damage in the boiler room, owner Rocky Pavey began to assemble a parts list, and tried to decide the best way to get it all to a village that has no road lead- ing to it. Discovery Channel's TV series "Yukon Men" is filmed in Tanana, an outpost of roughly 230 people. A COMMUTE TO REMEMBER Tanana rests by the concourse of the Tanana and mighty Yukon rivers. In a perfect world, the call would've come in late June, when the ice on rivers was gone. At that time of year, a boat could've barged everything out. But the existing boiler wasn't going to wait until summer to give up the ghost. The tribe needed a new one ASAP. Air transport for the new oil boiler, pipe, accessories, tools, food and three mechanics wasn't feasible; the numerous trips in a bush plane would be cost prohibitive. Service technician "Super" Sam Mullen jokingly suggested hauling everything out via snowmobiles, using the frozen Tanana River as a highway through the timbered back country. After further consideration, it seemed like a solid plan. A box van, pickup truck and a trailer were loaded and driven 160 miles west to the village of Manley Hot Springs, where everything was transferred to three snowmobiles and two sleds. After riding 70 miles on six-foot-thick, windswept ice and packed snow, the river widened to nearly two miles across where it met the Yukon and the village came into view on the far bank FRANKENSTEIN BOILER "Rocky told us what we were going to find in the boiler room," said Jason Cevasco, foreman. "But it was worse than we'd imagined. With limited supplies and a need to be resourceful, the tribe did what they could to keep the heat on. When a section cracked on the Counseling Center's boiler, they replaced it with one from a junk boiler. Needless to say, the push nipples were re-used, and leaked like crazy." "Oil is the only fuel source out here," explained Jon Neil, lead installer. "It's barged up the river in the summer, and costs about $8 per gallon [at the time]." On the north side of the vil- YUKON BOILERMEN Tradesmen trek through Interior Alaska BY DAN VASTYAN