North Idaho agencies send hurricane relief to East Coast
Kootenai Electric Cooperative has four lineworkers heading to Florida to help with Hurricane recovery efforts after Hurricane Helene and ahead of the anticipated damage from Hurricane Milton. Left to right: Ryan Rollins, lead lineman, Damon Palacios, apprentice lineman, Clint Ducken, lineman assistant/operator and Keith Gednalske, foreman.
Photo courtesy of Kootenai Electric Cooperative
After the destruction of Hurricane Helene and anticipated landfall of Hurricane Milton, the Coeur d'Alene Fire Department, firefighter Chad Matchell and K-9 Scout from Idaho Disaster Dogs Search and Rescue team deployed Sunday to assist with hurricane recovery efforts on the East Coast.
According to a social media post from the Washington State Task Force-1 FEMA team, Matchell and Scout are among a team that left Sunday to assist in either Florida or North Carolina.
Four lineworkers from Kootenai Electric Cooperative began their journey Tuesday to go to Fort Myers, Fla., to help ahead of Hurricane Milton's landfall.
The KEC crew will join forces with crews from Lee County Electric Cooperative as they work to restore any electrical damage sustained during the hurricane.
LCEC requested a line construction crew with equipment including a boom truck and bucket trucks to set poles and string wires for power restoration.
In Fort Meyers, storm recovery crews will work a minimum of 16-hour days for seven consecutive days, often staying in nearby tents. LCEC can request KEC continue to help restore power, and lineworkers will be swapped out for another crew from North Idaho if needed.
Electric cooperatives like KEC use collaborative emergency planning, allowing them to act quickly and help “neighbors” in the field borrow restoration workers from one another, support each other during major storms and disasters and enhancing workforce capacity in affected areas.