BRADENTON, Florida — You’d be forgiven for thinking FirstEnergy had sent down a small army to help the storm-ravaged gulf coast area of Florida following the arrival of nearly 900 linemen, damage assessors, electrical contractors, forestry crews, and support personnel.
Keith Perry, a MonPower General Manager who normally operates out of Fairmont, said crews are going to continue to alternate as best they can while they finish the job of helping restore power in Florida following the devastation of Hurricane Irma.
“They’re working right up to the last minute and having to get back right before the supper line closes,” Perry said of power line workers, 40 of whom come directly from MonPower.
Restoring power to the area is priority one, Perry said. In disaster situations, power companies throughout the southern United States often exchange services to help cover large areas of land that have seen major power outages.
“They feel bad about leaving people without lights, and they’re putting in a lot more extra time,” he said.
While being a linesman in West Virginia offers it’s own set of unique challenges, Perry said his crew is quickly adapting to the unique challenges offered by the Bradenton and Palmetto areas.
“The heat is very challenging,” he said. “The heat index the last couple of days has been right about 105 or so. It’s very hot and humid, so you really have to pay attention to staying hydrated because it can get away from you real quick.”
MonPower crews are staged in the Sarasota Fairgrounds, sleeping in special bunk trailers, eating meals, and doing their daily prep work before going out into the field to help restore power to the customers of Florida Power & Light’s system.
“There’s a southern electric exchange that’s kind of a group of east coast utilities,” Perry said. “Anytime any of them get into trouble from storms, they reach out to other companies for help.”
Perry and his crews are joined by approximately 425 contracted tree trimmers from throughout FirstEnergy.
“There’s a lot of tree damage,” Perry said. “Tree limbs, trees came down in quite a few places. Not a lot of major broken poles, but a lot of wires down. Whole lot of areas with the wires down.”
When repairs began, Florida Power & Light had 1,400 lateral distribution lines in the region in need of repair. It’s unclear how much progress has been made at this point. Catastrophic home damage is considered minimal in this area of Florida, and Perry said overall access to lines for needed repairs has been good.
“A lot of trees being down is probably our biggest challenge for access,” he said. “Other than that access is pretty good.”
Linemen are sleeping in trailers that house about 36 people. They are expected to be in the area for around two weeks.
CNN reported Friday that more than 80 percent of Floridians have had power restored. Nearly seven million people were without power at the height of the storm.
Irma claimed at least 70 lives, with about half of those coming in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.