SERVING B
WEC personnel respond to hurricane-impacted areas near and far
This Louisiana home suffered major damage from Hurricane Laura.
Throughout a record-setting Atlantic hurricane season in 2020, Wiregrass Electric Cooperative personnel proudly served near and far. Beginning in late August, WEC line crews spent two weeks helping restore power to Louisianans after Hurricane Laura. The last crew left that assignment to help prepare for the local Hurricane Sally response. Including service by warehouse personnel in a storm-stricken location, WEC professionals spent about a month working in areas hit by hurricanes. “We’re big enough to serve and small enough to care,” says WEC Chief Operating Officer Brad Kimbro. “Our members can take a lot of pride in our efforts to respond.”
Organizing regional response
The storm was strong enough to derail these train cars.
A Wiregrass Electric Cooperative line crew prepares to respond to a hurricane-stricken area in September.
6 NOVEMBER 2020
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Many electric cooperatives originated thanks to Rural Electrification Act loans following the Great Depression. Those low-interest loans helped local stakeholders construct power grids where larger companies wouldn’t.
As part of the loan process, the federal government required certain construction standards, leading cooperatives across the nation to erect similar power grids. Mutual-aid agreements that pledged assistance to each other in times of need became a natural byproduct for cooperatives, Kimbro says. Years ago, cooperatives struck their own individual agreements. But over time it became more efficient for state cooperative associations to coordinate large-scale and regional responses. “The electric cooperative association for Alabama can talk to the electric cooperative association for Louisiana, and they can assess the needs of multiple cooperatives at once and determine what resources are available,” Kimbro says. Involving the Alabama Rural Electric Association of Cooperatives makes the process much more efficient and effective in any response. While requests for extra linemen are virtually universal following a hurricane landfall, other cooperative employees also may be called to action. For instance,
WEC’s Tammy Byrd answers a call at the outage operations center during Hurricane Sally.
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10/15/20 2:36 PM
