When the Power Went Out, This Local 40 Member Stepped Up
Matt Gruber helped restore power to two Palisades fire stations in the thick of disaster
Two days after the Los Angeles area erupted in flames and fires still raged across the region, including the Pacific Palisades, IBEW Local 40 member Matt Gruber got a call.
It was from his friend and colleague James Adcock, who runs the truck rental company Avon Rents. Two fire stations in the Palisades had lost power. Could Gruber help get them back online?
Gruber, a manager at Hollywood Depot Rentals in Burbank, didn’t hesitate. With a fire department support vehicle escorting him, he and his team—three trucks carrying generators—made their way to Fire Stations 23 and 69. Once on-site, they backfed the stations’ electrical panels, restoring power and getting emergency operations back up and running.
“I felt honored to get that call,” Gruber said. “I was able to use the education I gained at IBEW Local 40. I went through the apprenticeship. I used what I was taught through iIBEW Local 40 to give them power. Without that education, I wouldn’t have been able to do what I was able to do.”
To ensure the job was done safely, Gruber called on former colleagues from Universal Studios, who brought over Lockout/Tagout equipment to properly back feed the system.
Gruber described a surreal scene of destruction as he drove through the Palisades that first Thursday to the fire stations. A 19-year member of Local 40, he likened it to an all-too-real movie set.
“Maybe I’ve just been in motion pictures for so long, but it made me feel like I was on a movie set,” Gruber said. “I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s like special effects was causing the gas to still come up off of all the people’s houses, and having flames come up. There was water trickling from everybody’s house. Every house had basically a water feature coming from the rubble. There was smoke smoldering from the telephone poles that were broken over.
“I’ve just been on sets where they’ve blown up cars and had special effects, but I didn’t see any of those people around, but I saw the effect,” Gruber continued. “It was a weird feeling to have.”
Shockingly, the two fire stations had no backup generators. Gruber’s team provided power for two weeks until general services stepped in to replace the stations’ electrical systems.
Gruber’s journey into the electrical trade began on a recommendation. He joined Local 40, worked at Universal Studios for a time, and eventually started his own HVAC shop in his garage. Today, he manages HVAC operations for Hollywood Depot Rentals.
“I find it hard not to (help),” Gruber said when he got that call. “Maybe it’s just that I can share the wealth of knowledge that I have, that I’ve learned, to basically help out people in need. Not only it make me feel good, but it also makes me feel like what I’m doing is not for nothing.”
In addition to being a proud member of IBEW Local 40, Matt Gruber is also a Teamsters Local 399 member, further deepening his connection to the labor movement.
He credits IBEW Local 40 with changing his life.
“My identity is partially an electrician. I know that that’s wild, because before that, I was somebody without that, but I’m just so involved when it comes to electrical. Without the education of Local 40 and the IBEW, I just wouldn’t be who I am today.”
Gruber and his wife Allison live in Porter Ranch with their three daughters, who keep him just as busy as the electrical trade does.
