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SALT LAKE CITY — Millions of people are still without power throughout the region, but thousands of linemen are coming to the rescue. Volunteer electrical workers from all over the country are spreading out to get the power flowing again, including a group from Utah.
The first stop for the group of Rocky Mountain Power is Newark, New Jersey. From there, local utility company officials will send them where needed within a 65,000-square-mile area between New Jersey and Ohio.
Colby Draper showed KSL his essential tools: a belt, climbing gear and gloves and 40 pounds of stuff he'll be wearing during 16-hour shifts for the next 2-to-3 weeks.
"I volunteered because people are in need back east, and there are a lot of crews that need rest," he said.
He'll be joined by 17 other Rocky Mountain Power workers who have the same goal — just wanting to help. These guys have been in disaster zones before, and worked in all sorts of bad conditions. A daunting task for sure.
"Sometimes it can set you back," said Huey Cole, another lineman. "It's surprising sometimes at how much devastation you can see. It's something right out of the movies."
They'll do just about everything: putting up new power poles, stringing the lines, reconnecting underground systems and whatever else it takes to get the "juice" flowing again.
RMP sending 18 employees to Newark NJ, along with other western utility crews, to assist w/restoration efforts #Sandytwitter.com/RMP_Utah/statu…
— Rocky Mountain Power (@RMP_Utah) November 1, 2012
"It's going to be interesting for sure," Draper said. "I think the hardest part will be just finding our way around how their system works, because they all work a little bit different."
There are thousands of utility workers from the U.S. and Canada who are converging on the northeast. Three dozen volunteers from several Oregon utility companies boarded a plane in Portland Thursday morning, which then stopped in Salt Lake and picked up the crews from Rocky Mountain Power.
Once they all get to their assigned locations, they'll work in 4-man teams.
"From what I've hear is the local crews are going to loan us their equipment, and we'll take that equipment and go to work," Draper said.
They'll work for a utility company that serves 6 million customers in six states. And despite the challenging and chaotic conditions right now, these workers will get the lights back on, no matter what it takes.
"Oh, we can," Cole said. "Absolutely. Absolutely. No doubt in my mind."
The Rocky Mountain workers told KSL that utility workers from other states have come to Utah when we've had big outages in past years; so this is a way of returning the favor.
