Snohomish PUD crews join California wildfire recovery effort

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, November 28, 2018

EVERETT — Utility workers from Snohomish County have arrived in California to help with recovery efforts in the aftermath of a devastating wildfire.

A group of 18 PUD workers left Everett on Sunday morning. They arrived in Chico, at a staging area for relief efforts, the next day. In the pouring rain Tuesday, they began adjusting to working in Paradise, a town where just about everything is charred and demolished.

Along the way south, they were given a kind of pre-screening for what to expect as they passed through blackened ground from other northern California wildfires that occurred over the summer.

“It is nothing like we have ever seen,” said Keith Ellison, a construction superintendent with the PUD. “We have seen some wind damage but really nothing of this score or scale.”

The PUD is sending two line crews, a tree-trimming crew, mechanics and support staff to help set up new poles, string wire, inspect equipment and other duties, said Neil Neroutsos, an agency spokesman.

“Look out for one another down there and make sure you come back in the same state you’re leaving,” PUD general manager and CEO John Haarlow told the crews Sunday morning as they made final preparations.

The Camp Fire has killed at least 88 people since it began Nov. 8. There were still 271 people unaccounted for, although some names have been coming off the list as relatives are able to reach one another.

The blaze, which is now 100 percent contained, burned more than 150,000 acres. The cause of the fire, which destroyed more than 14,000 homes, remains under investigation.

The Snohomish County contingent was asked for a two-month commitment.

“We all want to do our part to help,” Ellison said. “It looks awful down here.”

They won’t be hanging out in hotels after their shifts. Those beds are going to people who have been displaced, Ellison said. Instead, the Everett-based workers will be sleeping in bunk trailers.

Ellison has been told that amid all the destruction there will be those few houses that were somehow spared.

“It sounds like you are driving past a bunch of burned homes to get to the one home that it miraculously missed,” he said. “We will probably be building from the ground up new feeders to get to these people.”

Helping elsewhere after a disaster is not new for the local PUD.

Last year, it sent 19 workers and 11 trucks to help restore power to the millions of people who lost electricity after Hurricane Irma in the southeastern United States. In fall 2012, the PUD deployed 11 workers to aid in Superstorm Sandy restoration. They worked primarily on the New Jersey coast.

All PUD labor and supply costs are being reimbursed as part of the relief effort, Neroutsos said.

They’ll be joined by rougly 2,300 other utility crews from far and wide helping Pacific Gas & Electric restore power lines.

“It’s unknown how long they’ll be in California, but the crews will be called back to Snohomish County if the region is hit with a major storm,” Neroutsos said.

Three Snohomish County members of the Red Cross also are assisting on site with California relief efforts.

Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.