Maine crews
aid in cleanup following hurricane
By Kathy McCarty
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — Crews from Maine Public Service and Bangor Hydro Electric companies have been busy both in and out of state, helping to restore power knocked out along the East Coast as a result of Hurricane Sandy.
Crews were Central Maine Power’s service territory on Halloween assisting with restoration efforts in the Alfred and Portland areas.
Bangor Hydro is part of the North East Mutual Aid Group (NEMAG), which organizes deployment of utility crews throughout the Northeast during major power outage events. The group is comprised of more than 20 utilities across northeast U.S. and Canada. The group works collaboratively to determine the needs and available resources, and then matches them up to result in the greatest overall good.
On Oct. 31, 14 two-person crews, three line supervisors and a mechanic were sent to assist CMP. MPS sent three two-person crews, a mechanic and a line supervisor.
“We are pretty lucky overall as far as the severity of the storm,” said Scott Richards, line supervisor at Bangor Hydro. “We had about 6,500 outages and were able to have most customers restored within 24 hours, allowing us to release crews to assist elsewhere. MPS experienced lower wind speeds and responded to only one power outage during the storm.”
Power was knocked out briefly in a section of Presque Isle as a result of the storm.
Once power was restored in CMP’s service territory, both utilities turned their attention to assisting with restoration at other utilities in New England.
“We want to be sure we leave enough crews in Maine to handle any additional outages that may come our way,” said Richards.
About three million customers were without power in the Northeast because of the storm.
On Nov. 1, Bangor Hydro and MPS crews headed to Kingston, R.I., to assist National Grid with power restoration. After assisting CMP, a subset of that group headed south to repair damage from Hurricane Sandy.
“In the wake of a natural disaster, member utility representatives host daily conference calls to coordinate equipment and crew mobilization,” said Lisa Martin, manager of line and meter operations at Bangor Hydro and MPS. “As a result of a NEMAG call the evening of Oct. 31, seven Bangor Hydro and two Maine Public crews, as well as several mechanics and supervisors, were assigned to National Grid.”
Once power is restored in Rhode Island, decisions will be made whether the crews will assist in other areas severely damaged by the hurricane.
“We must consider our commitments to our customers in Maine when determining the number of crews we will send out of state and believe we have an adequate balance to meet both needs at this time,” said Martin.
In addition to utility crews, several other Maine organizations have sent personnel to assist with cleanup in states along the New England coast. Members of the Maine State Police and Maine Forest Service are among those who have joined in cleanup efforts.
