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DWP Gets Crafty With Its PPE
Francisco Villalobos Casillas runs the LA DWP upholstery shop, which has been repurposed to sew hundreds of fire-resistant masks each day for workers who tend high-tension power lines. (Courtesy LA DWP)
Some 3,000 Los Angeles Department of Water and Power workers needed fire-resistant masks just as supplies dried up nationwide. And not just any masks, fire-resistant masks.
The DWP turned to its own upholstery shop to fill the gap. At first they repurposed a supply of new fire-resistant pants, shirts and bandanas because the right kind of fabric was scarce.
But just this week, a roll of 200 yards of the special fabric came in, and the DWP upholstery shop and a few sewers are putting out some 200 masks a day.
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