HECO workers to help restore California’s grid after deadly fire

Some 30 personnel from Hawaiian Electric Co. and its Maui and Hawaii island subsidiaries will head to Northern California on Monday to rebuild infrastructure and restore power to areas affected by the deadly Camp Fire.

Five overhead line crews — three from Hawaiian Electric Co. and one each from Maui Electric and Hawaii Electric Light — will be making the trip to Butte County, north of Sacramento, to assist local efforts headed by Pacific Gas &Electric. Each crew includes a working foreman and four journeymen. Supervisors for each crew, a safety representative and a superintendent are also being dispatched.

The assistance was requested via the Western Region Mutual Assistance Group, of which the Hawaiian Electric companies are members.

In previous disaster relief efforts requiring outside help, western region utilities have been able to rely on fellow mainland utilities in closer proximity. However, with many other utilities already spread thin responding to weather-related emergencies in the southeast, PG&E asked from help from Hawaii, according to HECO.

“Our employees felt it was a great opportunity to share the aloha spirit with families devastated by the Camp Fire,” said operations superintendent Patrick O’Toole, who will oversee the Hawaii crews in California.

The crews will work 16-hour shifts over an anticipated three-week stay. They could be extended or replaced depending on continuing needs, O’Toole said.

Under an existing agreement between utilities, Hawaiian Electric Co. will be reimbursed by PG&E for all travel and labor expenses, according to HECO.

“This is what mutual assistance looks like — answering the call to help with volunteers who are among our companies’ most capable line workers,” said Alan Oshima, Hawaiian Electric president and CEO, in a release issued Friday. “And if we ever need help, workers from mainland utilities like PG&E will be answering the call.

“Our employees know they volunteered to work long shifts in unfamiliar territory under physically challenging conditions,” he said. “We’re asking them to be mindful about their situations and to make safety a top priority.”

The Camp Fire started Nov. 8 and has burned more than 153,330 acres. The deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history was 95 percent contained as of Friday, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The death toll as of Friday stood at 84, with many people still missing.