Tom Kuryla worked as electric lineman in Alaska

From simple tasks to complicated jobs, it just takes more work in Alaska.
The show “Tougher in Alaska” on the History channel brings that idea to life every week with episodes featuring the risks different workers face in Alaska’s rugged terrain and dangerous weather.
Former International Falls resident Tom Kuryla knows how tough life is in Alaska. He was featured in an episode about electric linemen, which aired in May. Reruns of the episode can be seen at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Wednesday on the History channel. New episodes of “Tougher in Alaska” are shown at 9 p.m. on Sundays. Videos of the show can also be purchased at www.history.com [1].
The History channel crew was in Alaska filming different trades over the past two years, Kuryla told The Journal from his home in Alaska. In addition to filming electric linemen, the show also features state troopers, truck drivers, commercial anglers and loggers.
Kuryla was born and raised in the Falls. He began his career in 1969, working for Minnesota Power for five years before making the move to Alaska in 1974. He now resides in Fairbanks.
The episode on electric linemen finds Kuryla and his crew from Golden Valley Electric Association fixing transmission towers and restoring power after an outage.
Electric lineman work with high voltage electricity and power lines year ‘round, Kuryla said. As people build new homes, power lines are installed. About 10 percent of households in Alaska are hooked up to the electricity grid.
The Golden Valley Electric Association maintains the only interconnected power grid in Alaska — a power line that carries electricity between Anchorage and Fairbanks through 300 miles of inhospitable terrain, according to the show.
Kuryla said he has to repair and troubleshoot as part of his job. Power lines fall or trees can fall on the lines and it’s up to the electric linemen to fix or reroute the lines to restore power, he said.
“Tougher in Alaska” host Geo Beach visited Kuryla’s crew several times. During the first visit, on a minus 40 degree December day, Beach introduces Kurlya as a “legend in these parts” as a result of Kuryla working the lines for more than 30 Alaskan winters.
“Mainly we have 40 below weather. It’s not easy to get up in the morning and get out in 40 below and go to work. But people need power and that's my job,” Kuryla said on the episode, adding that linemen are a “rare breed.”
A second visit to Kuryla in April finds his crew scaling 90-foot transmission towers to replace an insulator.
Kuryla was a job foreman on the crew; it was up to the crew to get power restored no matter what the problem was or what weather was like outside, he said.
The worst situation he found himself working in during his career was 30 hours of work without a break in a temperature of minus 68 degrees, Kuryla said.
He described the show as well done and said he was happy with it. He said it was odd to see himself on TV in the show When he was being filmed, he said he didn’t realize what he was saying. He was “just working and talking,” he said.
Kuryla moved to Alaska because of the job opportunities it offered with the start of construction of the Alaskan oil pipeline, he said. He enjoyed the excitement of moving to Alaska, adding that it was the best move he’s ever made, he said. However, he said, he misses the lakes of northern Minnesota.
What has kept him in Alaska is the beauty of the area and the friendly people, he said. The winters are long and harsh, but the colors of the fall can’t be beaten, he said.
Kuryla retired in October after working as an electric lineman in Alaska for 34 years. In his retirement, he’s been remodeling and painting his house, he said, joking that his wife has found so many chores for him to do that he’s thinking of going back to work.