Washington State’s Clark Public Utilities has received a national commendation from the American Public Power Association for its support in electric power restoration efforts around South Puget Sound and Western Oregon in recent months.
In February and early March, Clark Public Utilities sent crews to assist Peninsula Light Co. and Pacific Power, which suffered widespread outages as a result of aggressive and repeated winter storms, Clark Public Utilities noted in an April 19 news release.
Peninsula Light is a Gig Harbor, Washington State-based electric cooperative, while Pacific Power is a division of investor-owned PacifiCorp.
After severe snowstorms hit Northwest Washington, a crew of four Clark Public Utilities linemen worked from Feb. 11 to Feb. 14 to restore power around Gig Harbor. The crew cleared fallen trees and freed downed power lines in forested terrain to restore power to Peninsula Light customers.
From Feb. 25 to March 5, two crews and a superintendent were dispatched to Albany and Roseburg, Ore. The lines in Southwest Oregon were located in extremely isolated and remote areas and crews were required to carry in equipment on foot, Clark Public Utilities noted. Residents in those areas had been without power for more than a week.
“Utilities across Oregon and Washington found themselves scrambling to restore power to their customers in the wake of this winter’s late-breaking and powerful storms,” said Clark Public Utilities General Manager and CEO Wayne Nelson. “Once we ensured the safety and security of our own system and had confidence that the worst of the weather had missed the SW Washington region, we were quick to respond to requests for mutual aid assistance from our regional colleagues struggling to restore service to their customers.”
Clark Public Utilities participates in the Association’s Mutual Aid Network, which coordinates with utilities and authorities during widespread power outages, in addition to state and regional networks.
Details on Association’s Mutual Aid Commendation Program
The Association’s Mutual Aid Commendation Program aims to recognize utilities that have answered the call for assistance and aided another utility in restoring power to its customers.
Commendation nominations should be for mutual aid events in the past 12 months. Recipients will receive a letter, certificate and sample press release.
For additional information on the Mutual Aid Commendation Program, click here.
Additional details about the Association’s mutual aid program are available here.
