Andre Hughes, who worked with Mike Lemestre, stands in the doorway of Lemestre’s work truck outside funeral services at Cottonwood Church in Los Alamitos, CA on Friday, January 14, 2022. Lemestre, a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power senior cable splicer, died after coming into contact with an energized circuit in an underground vault while working as part of a cable splicing crew at Terminal Island. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Andre Hughes, who worked with Mike Lemestre, shows a memorial sticker on a helmet outside funeral services at Cottonwood Church in Los Alamitos, CA on Friday, January 14, 2022. Lemestre, a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power senior cable splicer, died after coming into contact with an energized circuit in an underground vault while working as part of a cable splicing crew at Terminal Island. Two LADWP boom trucks raised an American flag at the entrance to the church. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Neftali Hidalgo, a co-worker of Mike Lemestre, helps raise an American flag outside funeral services for Lemestre at Cottonwood Church in Los Alamitos, CA on Friday, January 14, 2022. Lemestre, a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power senior cable splicer, died after coming into contact with an energized circuit in an underground vault while working as part of a cable splicing crew at Terminal Island. Two LADWP boom trucks raised an American flag at the entrance to the church. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Co-workers of Mike Lemestre help raise an American flag outside funeral services for Lemestre at Cottonwood Church in Los Alamitos, CA on Friday, January 14, 2022. Lemestre, a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power senior cable splicer, died after coming into contact with an energized circuit in an underground vault while working as part of a cable splicing crew at Terminal Island. Two LADWP boom trucks raised an American flag at the entrance to the church. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Family, friends and colleagues enter funeral services for Mike Lemestre at Cottonwood Church in Los Alamitos, CA on Friday, January 14, 2022. Lemestre, a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power senior cable splicer, died after coming into contact with an energized circuit in an underground vault while working as part of a cable splicing crew at Terminal Island. Two LADWP boom trucks raised an American flag at the entrance to the church. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A memorial poster sits in the window of Mike Lemestre’s work truck outside funeral services at Cottonwood Church in Los Alamitos, CA on Friday, January 14, 2022. Lemestre, a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power senior cable splicer, died after coming into contact with an energized circuit in an underground vault while working as part of a cable splicing crew at Terminal Island. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Coworkers and loved ones gathered at Cottonwood Church in Los Alamitos on Friday,  Jan.. 14, to bid farewell to Los Angeles Department of Water and Power employee Mike Lemestre, who died in November while working with an LADWP crew at Terminal Island.

Two LADWP boom trucks were stationed outside the entrance to the church as a towering tribute. The trucks, generally used for electrical repair work in the field, were raised high to hold the American flag.

“Mike’s passing was deeply felt by department which understands and appreciates the hazards involved in the work its crews perform every day,” said a statement released this week. “LADWP has also received an outpouring of support from members of the public who recognize the critical and essential public service Mike, and other electrical service workers, perform day in, day out, to keep the lights on for Los Angeles.”

Lemestre was killed on Nov. 4 after coming into contact with an energized circuit in an underground vault while working as part of a cable splicing team.

The lineman was pulled from the vault by co-workers, who tried to revive him with CPR before members of the Los Angeles Fire Department arrived and took him to a hospital.

Mike was a 16-year LADWP veteran, joining the department as an Electrical Craft Helper for the Power Transmission & Distribution Division in 2005.

On Nov. 18, LADWP staged a five-minute “Stand Down,” as all department work paused for five minutes to honor Lemestre. On that day, Lemestre’s hard hat and other gear were placed on a power pole at a LADWP job site in Los Angeles by his former crewmates to honor the fallen lineman.

Lemestre is survived by his wife, Michelle, and son, Joshua.

Get the latest news delivered daily!

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.