The crews from an electric company based in Chicago spent the night in Augusta as they mobilized to help restore power in North Carolina.
About 100 linemen and support personnel from Commonwealth Edison Company were enroute to Florida. However, the company received word thousands of crews from other utility companies were already on the ground across the state.
ComEd spokesman John Shane said that’s when they got the call from Duke Energy in North Carolina.
“Duke said, ‘Hey, we could take them because it looks like Hurricane Ian may make landfall again, in the Carolinas sometime in the next couple of days,’” he said. “So, they came to Augusta as a place to stop for the night on their way to North Carolina.”
Utility trucks and support vehicles filled the back parking lot of the Ramada on Broad Street where half of the crew stayed. The rest were at the Augusta Marriott at the Convention Center.
According to the Duke Energy website, almost 20,000 customers were without power by noon on Sept. 30. The highest concentration of outages – 11,000 – were in the Raleigh-Durham, N.C. area.
Shane said ComEd is a member of a number of mutual aid networks across the country.
“So, when Hurricane Ian, when it became obvious that it was going to be a really significant storm, the network was brought up online and various utilities reached out said,’ Hey, we think we’re going to need a hand, can you come out and do it’ and we’re always glad to send crews out to help,” he said.
Crews sent to help with the recovery are self-sufficient
“We always make sure that our folks have food and water,” said Shane. “It can be very warm and hot and humid, where they go, and so being able to be hydrated and have food to get the job, you know, so they can focus on work, which can be very dangerous. It’s critical, you know, we want to make sure that we aren’t drinking resources that the community needs.”
Georgia Power spokeswoman Adrienne Tickle said the company has not yet received a request for assistance from other utility companies.
“The Georgia Power teams are working in the field ensure that our customers who experience service interruptions from impacts attributed to Hurricane Ian are restore safely and as quickly as possible,” she said.
Shane says the length off time a crew will stay deployed depends on the amount of repair work needed. He said they hate seeing people struggling and are glad they can help them.
Shane said people back home are happy when they return.
“We look at these guys as heroes, sometimes. They come home, and we’re so excited to see them and hear the stories and just thank them for a job well done,” he said.
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a general assignment reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com
