Lineworkers from across the country standing by for Hurricane Helene response: ‘All hands on deck’

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Published  September 25, 2024 9:59pm EDT
FOX 13 News

TAMPA, Fla. - Thousands of power crews from in and out of state are staged and ready to respond to outages caused by Hurricane Helene. 

In a Wednesday morning news conference in Tampa, Governor Ron DeSantis said 18,000 crews and counting have been brought into the state.  

"I know TECO is proactive. I know our other companies...I've been speaking with the major companies. I've been speaking with the electrical co-ops, the municipal cooperatives. You name it, they're all hands on deck," he said.

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A TECO spokesperson said 3,500 lineworkers are on standby. The power company brought in crews from as far as Colorado and Connecticut.

Meanwhile, more than 8,000 Duke Energy crews are staged across Florida at five major sites. Tropicana Field in downtown St. Petersburg is one of them. By Wednesday evening, an estimated 750 lineworkers and 350 vehicles were standing by, most of which were from within Florida. 

About 400 crews were brought in from the Midwest.

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"We always want to make sure that we have more than enough people to respond if needed," said Duke Energy Storm Response spokesperson Ben Williamson. "Vegetation trucks, special equipment that can go over difficult terrain...we've got some of those vehicles here."

Both power companies ask customers for patience as power outages begin. 

"We're not sure what this storm will bring, but any time there are power outages, we understand that that's inconvenient. But we really appreciate people's patience," Williamson said. 

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Once the storm passes, crews will first assess which areas see the most widespread outages.  

"Then we're going to go out and look at public safety hazards. Are there active, downed lines? We want to make sure we remove that public safety threat. Then we'll focus on large infrastructure. Think about those big transmission lines, large substations," he said. 

Lastly, crews will work to restore smaller, neighborhood lines.

"We feel prepared. We feel ready. We encourage families to do the same," he said. "We can assure you that as soon as it's safe to get these crews out, we'll be doing that."

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