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SALT LAKE CITY — Sixteen linemen and two managers from Rocky Mountain Power will fly to New Jersey Wednesday morning to help local crews with the massive task of restoring power.
It's a big job. States across the East need help.
"We all have a sense of pulling together in an extraordinary emergency," said Dave Eskelsen with Rocky Mountain Power.
Electricity is critical to cleanup and getting back to normal life.
"Damage this big to an electric system takes a lot more people than any one company could muster," Esklsen said.
So, crews from across the country, including the 18 from Rocky Mountain Power, will rush to restore power.
Poncho
Mirror
Lights
Mask and gloves
First aid kit
Emergency rations
Radio
Whistle
"Most people are overjoyed to see help coming from out of the area, and just can't believe some of the places we come from," said worker Mark Kuhn.
He told KSL that crews typically get large numbers of customers back on line in the first 24 hours.
He's responded to storm outages in Illinois, South Dakota and Iowa caused by ice storms that lasted for weeks. When he sees a power outage of this magnitude, he immediately thinks of all of the obstacles.
"Will our guys be able to get around? Will we have mechanical breakdowns of our equipment? Where do you get gas?"
Once an area is safe, crews restore power to substations first. Then they repair feeder lines that provide power to entire neighborhoods. After that, they take care of individual customers.
"You want to get the most bang for your buck and try to pick up as many people at once as you can," Kuhn said.
Related:
Disarray, millions without power in Sandy's wake
The most devastating storm in decades to hit the country's most densely populated region upended man and nature as it rolled back the clock on 21st-century lives, cutting off modern communication and leaving millions without power Tuesday as thousands who fled their water-menaced homes wondered when – if – life would return to normal.Kuhn says the crews will likely work 16 hours on, and eight off until the job is done. But, it's rewarding work.
"You are trying to get these people back on power, and that makes all the difference," Kuhn said.
The worst recent outage in Utah was nine years ago, caused by a storm in the last week of December knocked out power for nearly 200,000 on the Wasatch Front. Most got power back quickly, 2,700 had to wait two to five days.
