Friday morning ten employees of Lamar Electric departed Paris heading to the area near Jasper Texas, served by the Jasper-Newton Electric Cooperative. They will be helping restore power to more than 15,000 homes after the area was ravaged by Hurricane Laura.
Lamar Electric is part of a nationwide mutual aid agreement with over 800 other non-profit Rural Electric Cooperatives. All rural electric cooperatives use the exact same construction specifications, which allow crews to be very comfortable rebuilding line in an unfamiliar area. The crew took several four wheel drive trucks as well as off road equipment. The off road track mounted equipment will allow them to set poles in wet areas that is not accessible to a regular digger truck.
According to Lamar Operations Manager Scott Sansom; “These crews have been trained on how to safely work on unfamiliar power lines after a disaster.” Sansom continued, “The crews will be using heavy duty grounding cables and special pole wrap warning signs.” Cooperative General Manager Jerry Williams had prayer with the group of men before they departed.
The counties affected by Hurricane Laura have already been declared a federal disaster area. This designation will allow FEMA to reimburse the damaged cooperative at least 75% to pay for crews assisting in the recovery effort.
Lamar Electric disaster recovery employees on this assignment are; Scott Sansom, Drew Conder, Corey May, David Roberts, Dustin Dale, Jessup Crutchfield, Ryan Dean, Colby Pace, Jose Recendiz and Michael Sorensen.
Source: Lamar Electric Cooperative
