A major utility damage with poetic timing

This week’s Movie Monday is the launch of something new. We’re kicking off a video series we’re calling “The Damage Report”. Think of it like a news broadcast, but one where we highlight real-world damages that impact the industries we serve.

And the timing of our very first story? Somewhat eerie! I guess it is officially spooky season. (I’m doing my best Edward R Murrow impressions, going for the “overworked reporter” look, hence the tie.)

Just as thousands of damage prevention professionals wrapped up the ACTS Now Global Damage Prevention Summit in Dallas on September 19, a massive, news-making outage hit the metroplex. A pair of severed fiber-optic lines shut down communications at Dallas–Fort Worth International Airport and Love Field, grounding flights, delaying passengers, and reminding everyone how vulnerable our infrastructure really is.

For us at Trident, the story was even closer to home. DFW is our headquarters’ home airport. And one of our own, Nick Temple, was right there in the middle of it all. Nick had just left the Summit and narrowly escaped the DFW airport just before the outage occurred.

You couldn’t script more ironic (maybe coincidence is a more apt word?) timing. An entire conference dedicated to preventing utility and infrastructure damages had just adjourned, only for one of the nation’s busiest airports to experience exactly the type of outage that brings the importance of our work into sharp focus.

The numbers were staggering: hours-long ground stops, over a thousand delays, hundreds of cancellations, and tens of thousands of passengers stranded. What started as a few cut lines turned into ripple effects across the entire region.

That’s why we’re sharing this story and launching this new series. Every damage has a story, and those stories carry lessons.

Our hope is that by bringing you these reports in a clear, engaging way, we can raise awareness, drive conversations, and shine a spotlight on why the work of damage prevention is so critical.

Until next time, stay safe & call before you dig!