More Than 400 PG&E Coworkers Will Be
Joining an Army of 50,000 Utility Workers in the Repair and
Restoration Effort
OAKLAND,
Calif., Oct. 3, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Pacific Gas
and Electric Company (PG&E) will send an Incident Management
Team and more than 400 electric workers and support personnel to
Georgia to assist in the
restoration of power to tens of thousands of customers left in the
dark in the devastating wake of Hurricane Helene.
The crews will be leaving Friday from Sacramento International Airport and upon
arrival will join Georgia Power utility workers and others from
around North America in supporting
the restoration effort. As part of this mutual-aid effort, more
than 300 PG&E trucks will be transported to Georgia. They began leaving PG&E's Davis
Service Center on Wednesday.
Hurricane Helene was a Category 4 storm as it made landfall in
Florida on Sept. 26. It moved over Georgia, North and South Carolina and Tennessee, spawning tornadoes and rainfall
that caused extensive flooding. More than 190 deaths have been
attributed to Helene and hundreds are still missing, making it the
second deadliest hurricane to strike the continental United States in 50 years. Our heart and our
thoughts are with everyone that has been impacted by this devasting
hurricane.
As of noon today, more than 900,000 customers remained without
power in Georgia and North and
South Carolina.
"Mutual aid is a hallmark of the utility industry," said
Angie Gibson, PG&E's Vice
President of Emergency Preparedness & Response. "Other
utilities share the same customer focus that we have here at
PG&E. When the chips are down, we start our crews and blue
trucks rolling to help. And other companies do the same for us when
we need assistance."
In recent years:
- In August of 2023, PG&E provided temporary generation and
crews to treat poles with fire suppression to support Pacific Power
as it worked to restore customers impacted by the Smith River
Complex Fires in far Northern
California.
- In 2018, PG&E gas workers traveled to Massachusetts to support the local utility
after a series of explosions and fires affected customers of
Columbia Gas.
- In 2017, PG&E deployed an emergency Incident Command Team
to Puerto Rico as part of an electric industry mutual-aid
effort to repair infrastructure destroyed by Hurricane Maria and
restore electric service to island residents.
- Also in 2017, PG&E crews deployed to Florida for two weeks to make repairs after
another hurricane, Irma. Working on both coasts
of Florida, PG&E crews safely responded to more
than 650 repair jobs, restoring more than 41,000
customers.
The Edison Electric Institute, an electric-utility member
organization, said on Tuesday that nearly 50,000 electric workers
from at least 40 states and Canada
are dedicated to the Hurricane Helene response and power
restoration effort, making this one of the nation's largest
mutual-assistance mobilizations ever.
In total, Helene impacted nearly 6 million electric customers in
10 states. As of Wednesday afternoon, power has been restored to
approximately 4.51 million customers—or 75.1 percent of customers,
EEI said.
"IBEW 1245 is extremely proud that our members will be traveling
to Georgia to assist in the
restoration of power. Their willingness to help those facing the
devastation of Hurricane Helene is selfless," said Bob Gerstle, the union's senior assistant
business manager.
PG&E has gotten support from Cal OES, Caltrans, the
California Highway Patrol,
CAL FIRE, Yolo County and the City of Davis to facilitate the rapid
deployment of the mutual-aid effort.
Peter Kenny, PG&E's Senior
Vice President of Electric Operations, said, "It's heartbreaking to
see the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene. I am so thankful
for our PG&E coworkers – serving those in need in Georgia and those continuing to serve our
hometowns here in California."
About PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a
subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is a combined
natural gas and electric utility serving more than 16 million
people across 70,000 square miles in Northern and Central California. For more information,
visit pge.com and pge.com/news.
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SOURCE Pacific Gas and Electric Company