The men were glad to return home, but they noted that helping other cooperatives’ and their members recover from a storm is a rewarding experience. “Our guys got to see first-hand how all the work that we put into system planning, maintenance and procedures helps us avoid some widespread outage events, as well as deal with them when they do occur,” Bell said. You could repair five or six miles of line and it might only get 8-10 customers back on.”īoth men agreed that the Jackson EMC linemen who made the trip returned with an appreciation of our cooperative’s system, each other and our fellow EMCs. “We saw spans that were anywhere from 300 to 500 feet long. Sweat said that, like many rural EMCs he’d assisted in the past, these cooperatives had lines that spanned long distances, making the location or cause of an outage, as well as restoring it, more of a challenge. “They come down and take the utility lines with them.” “You’ve got a lot of Southern Pine trees, and they can’t handle the weight of the ice,” Bell said. Johnny Bell, Jefferson District line foreman, and Tim Sweat, director of job training/safety were deployed with crews working those areas from February 15th-20th.īell said the destruction was typical of a Georgia ice storm, with damage to lines and poles that resulted primarily from falling trees and branches. Each received damaging ice accumulations that cut service to a majority of their members. While February’s winter storm brought mostly snow and sleet to our service area, Jackson EMC sent crews to assist sister cooperatives, Jefferson Energy, Washington EMC and Planters EMC. (Front row, L-R) Craig Etris, Michael Johnson, Jeff Sutton, Michael Moon and Chad Hemphill (Back row, left to right) Jeff Vogt, Michael Metcalf, Derrick Brinkley, Johnny Bell, Kevin Cash, Justin Cash (on truck), Steve Streetman, Jeremiah Nash and Darian Rakestraw. ![]() Photo Caption: Some of Jackson EMC crew members who were deployed to assist in restoring power during Ice Storm, Pax.
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