The Navajo Tribal Utility Authority is sending an electric line construction team to Los Angeles, Calif., to assist with electric restoration for areas impacted by wildfires, NTUA reported on Jan. 16.
The eleven NTUA team members will be working among other utilities that are providing support for the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power.
“The decision to send the electric line construction crew is part of the mutual aid platform practiced by utilities across the country. When a region is hit by a natural disaster, utilities send line worker crews to help,” NTUA said.
“In the past, LADWP helped us considerably by helping extend electricity to Navajo families,” NTUA General Manager Walter Haase. “They helped us and now we are helping them.”
For three years, during the fall season as part of the Mutual Aid In-Training (a branch of Light Up Navajo), LADWP sent 188 electric line workers to help extend electricity to 170 homes of Navajo families without electricity. LADWP electricians also assisted with 91 house-wiring and meter installation projects.
This is the first time that NTUA will be working on a major and massive mutual aid project outside the Navajo Nation.
“NTUA is the only tribal utility that is sending a crew to Los Angeles,” Haase said. “We are very proud of that and will be honored to represent the Navajo Nation.”