WENATCHEE — It’s rarely lonely at the top of the Sen. George Sellar Bridge.
Raccoons stop by occasionally. And pigeons are a constant.
“It’s their home; they live there,” said Jared Minnie, an ironworker working on the bridge improvement project. “They
6;re all over and they always do weird stuff. They’re just funny. Sometimes they fly right into the iron; sometimes they don’t land right; they walk in circles. You can make little bird noises at them and sometimes they’ll come right to you. They’re just entertaining.”
The 35-year-old Brewster resident is one of four ironworkers currently on the bridge project. The ironworkers are knocking out old rivets and sliding in new bolts through new sections of steel. The work is strengthening the structure so it can accommodate a fifth traffic lane and a walking/biking lane.
This is Minnie’s second bridge project. In 2006 he helped build the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge. The top of that bridge is about 300 feet above the roadway, compared with the 70 feet of the Sellar Bridge.
Minnie said the Tacoma bridge was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, with huge pieces of equipment and bridge sections going up in front of his eyes.
He isn’t usually bothered by heights but remembers being pretty scared one day when the Tacoma bridge work had to be stopped because of 70 mph winds.
“This wind was blowing me up a catwalk, and I’m a heavy guy. I’m 240 pounds,” he said. “The catwalk is swaying back and forth. The tower is supposed to be a safe spot but the tower even moves in those kind of winds.”
Wind hasn’t been a problem on the Sellar Bridge, he said, but “sometimes the weather bothers me. It’s winter time and you get cold hands. Your fingers go numb and if you smack them with something like your spud wrench, it hurts.”
Minnie said the only times he’s gotten nervous on the Sellar Bridge is when the iron gets icy. Even though the ironworkers are harnessed, a short fall with a sudden stop “can break bones, or you might swing and hit the iron and hurt yourself.”
Minnie grew up in Pateros and began working in local packing plants as a mechanic out of high school. He also worked in a fabrication shop and with heavy equipment.
Eleven years ago, a buddy suggested he become an ironworker and Minnie jumped at the chance for a job with good wages and benefits. To date, he’s worked on several buildings, mostly in the Seattle area.
On Seattle jobs, he said, it’s hard being away from his wife and two sons, ages 8 and 11, during the work week. On the Sellar Bridge project, however, he drives home to Brewster every night.
Pigeons and raccoons aside, Minnie said, he usually stays firmly focused on the job at hand. “You’ve got to,” he said. “You can’t not have your head in the job. Everything you’re working with has a potential to hurt you. The rivet busters are no joke; things can go wrong with that. A rivet buster is kind of like a jack hammer. One guy broke his thumb in four places.
“And the mag drill is pretty dangerous. If you lose power and the magnet comes off, then the bit keeps turning so the mag drill spins in circles, and it could potentially break your wrist. One guy got smacked in the face and it broke his nose up pretty good.”
The job can also be mind-numbing, pounding in bolt after bolt after bolt.
“It’s monotonous; it never ends,” he said. “Your first few days on the job you have a blast, but after your 4,000th bolt, it’s just another bolt.”
Minnie started working on the Sellar Bridge in late May and expects to finish up this spring. Then, he’ll wait for another job assignment.
He said he likes working at different locations. “It’s not the same-old, same-old every day,” he said. “Things change and it keeps you on your toes.
“It keeps you in shape. It’s a good trade, if you don’t want to just waste away.”
And on high jobs, he still finds another perk.
“I get to see some amazing sunsets and sunrises,” he said. “The other day, I had a bald eagle fly over my head. That was really cool.”
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