"There are times when Mother Nature ... causes wide spread system damage that demands resources beyond your own capabilities."

As managers of electric distribution cooperatives each of you are all familiar with the importance of properly staffing your organizations and managing a necessary inventory of equipment and materials so as to maintain the reliability your systems and serve the needs of your consumers. However as anyone who has been in the business for a while will tell you, there are times when Mother Nature decides to throw a weather tantrum which causes wide spread system damage that demands resources beyond your cooperative's means. When this happens, it's time to pick up the phone and get help.

Summarized below are a basic set of guidelines designed to help assure smooth operations for both the cooperative that's borrowing manpower and equipment, and for the cooperative that's lending the resources. Why not take a few moments to read through the steps listed below and compare the ideas offered to what your own cooperative does when disaster strikes.

1. As soon as it's feasible, physically survey the extent of the damage to your system and, as nearly as possible, determine the personnel and equipment you'll need to get your system restored.
   
   
2. Consult your NRECA cooperative directory or your Statewide Organization's emergency plan and identify the cooperatives that have the manpower and equipment available that would most likely be of help to your cooperative. Granted, it's always a good idea to look to your immediate neighbors for help first however, if they've just been hit by the same storm that impacted your cooperative -- they will probability be least able to loan you help. In all likelihood, they will be dealing with the same mess that you've got. Therefore, consult the Weather Channel or call the National Weather Service to determine the path of the storm travel through the region and then focus your calls on cooperatives just outside of the affected area. These brothers-in-arms will be the closest potential allies available to provide help and far more likely to be in a position to offer manpower and equipment.
   
   
3. Once you've identified the cooperative(s) most likely to be able to offer you help, contact them and indicate that you have been hit by a major storm or other disaster and determine whether they are in a position to be of assistance. If phone lines are disrupted, arrange with the State Police to get word to the cooperative(s) on your list.
   
   
4. When requesting help, be prepared to furnish the following information:
   1. Number and type of trucks needed
   2. Other equipment and tools needed
   3. Personnel and classification needed
   4. Materials, if any, needed
   5. Weather and road conditions
   6. Where and to whom the crews should report and
   7. An estimate of the time assistance will be needed

    

5. Once help is on the way, make preparations to be a gracious host. Contact a nice nearby hotel and make arrangements to provide meals and sleeping accommodations for the warriors who are coming to help you out. You should also advise your fleet maintenance staff to stand ready to perform minor mechanic repairs or basic service work for vehicles provided by the assisting cooperatives. This doesn't mean that your staff should be ready and willing to rebuild engines and transmissions - it's just recognition of the fact that general vehicle repairs might be necessary. (For the record, the assisting cooperative should be consulted regarding any major mechanical repairs that might be necessary while the units are on loan.)
   
   
6. As a basic rule, the assisting cooperative should provide any necessary cash advances for personnel and insure that crews have extra clothing and personnel articles as might be required.
   
   
7. As the cooperative receiving assistance you need to remember that the visiting cooperative's staffs have no knowledge of your system or practices. You should therefore hold an extensive "tail-gate" session with the visiting crews to advise them of the status of your distribution system and the nature of your operating territory. This is also a good time to review important operating procedures and safety guidelines.
   
   
8. After the visiting crews know what they will be facing as they work to restore your system (from your tail-gate meeting), it's a good idea to have each group perform a quick check of their vehicles to assure that they have all of the necessary basic tools and equipment, PPE, cover ups, traffic control devices, first aid supplies, etc. they might need -- before they head into the field. After all, it will only slow the restoration effort if they get out to the damage site and don't have the equipment necessary to safely and efficiently restore service.
   
   
9. Assisting crew members should be accompanied by crew members of the cooperative receiving assistance. Ideally, this means that you should send one of your experienced linemen out with each visiting crew. If that's impossible (likely with very small cooperatives) then be prepared to team up experienced engineering or operations personnel (who have working knowledge of your system) with assisting crews. Facts being facts, there is no substitute for the intimate system knowledge that your staff can offer, on the spot, to a visiting crew.

   10. Finally, have system maps copied and available to assist visiting crew members whenever possible and inform visiting crews of system or circuit         voltage, direction of feed or substation locations (loop feeds), the location of foreign transmission or distribution crossings, and the location of any         other crews working on the same circuits. You should also be prepared to provide communication devices to the visiting crews or at least make sure         that they know the radio frequency that your cooperative uses for dispatch and crew-to-crew communication.

While some of the information offered above may have been a review for most of you, if you noted just one or two new ideas that your cooperative could use the next time your on the receiving end of a nasty storm, so much the better.

(Please Note: Sandean Services wishes to gratefully acknowledge the assistance and cooperation of the New York State Rural Electric Cooperative Association and, their Executive Secretary, Robert Murdock, in particular, for allowing excerpts from NYSRECA's mutual aid and emergency disaster plans to be shared with others through this article.)

• Weather and road conditions
• Where and to whom the crews should report and
• An estimate of the time assistance will be needed

1. Once help is on the way, make preparations to be a gracious host. Contact a nice nearby hotel and make arrangements to provide meals and sleeping accommodations for the warriors who are coming to help you out. You should also advise your fleet maintenance staff to stand ready to perform minor mechanic repairs or basic service work for vehicles provided by the assisting cooperatives. This doesn't mean that your staff should be ready and willing to rebuild engines and transmissions - it's just recognition of the fact that general vehicle repairs might be necessary. (For the record, the assisting cooperative should be consulted regarding any major mechanical repairs that might be necessary while the units are on loan.)
   
   
2. As a basic rule, the assisting cooperative should provide any necessary cash advances for personnel and insure that crews have extra clothing and personnel articles as might be required.
   
   
3. As the cooperative receiving assistance you need to remember that the visiting cooperative's staffs have no knowledge of your system or practices. You should therefore hold an extensive "tail-gate" session with the visiting crews to advise them of the status of your distribution system and the nature of your operating territory. This is also a good time to review important operating procedures and safety guidelines.
   
   
4. After the visiting crews know what they will be facing as they work to restore your system (from your tail-gate meeting), it's a good idea to have each group perform a quick check of their vehicles to assure that they have all of the necessary basic tools and equipment, PPE, cover ups, traffic control devices, first aid supplies, etc. they might need -- before they head into the field. After all, it will only slow the restoration effort if they get out to the damage site and don't have the equipment necessary to safely and efficiently restore service.
   
   
5. Assisting crew members should be accompanied by crew members of the cooperative receiving assistance. Ideally, this means that you should send one of your experienced linemen out with each visiting crew. If that's impossible (likely with very small cooperatives) then be prepared to team up experienced engineering or operations personnel (who have working knowledge of your system) with assisting crews. Facts being facts, there is no substitute for the intimate system knowledge that your staff can offer, on the spot, to a visiting crew.
   
   
6. Finally, have system maps copied and available to assist visiting crew members whenever possible and inform visiting crews of system or circuit voltage, direction of feed or substation locations (loop feeds), the location of foreign transmission or distribution crossings, and the location of any other crews working on the same circuits. You should also be prepared to provide communication devices to the visiting crews or at least make sure that they know the radio frequency that your cooperative uses for dispatch and crew-to-crew communication.

While some of the information offered above may have been a review for most of you, if you noted just one or two new ideas that your cooperative could use the next time your on the receiving end of a nasty storm, so much the better.

(Author's Note: We gratefully acknowledge the assistance and cooperation of the New York State Rural Electric Cooperative Association and their Executive Secretary, Robert Murdock, in particular, for allowing excerpts from NYSRECA's mutual aid and emergency disaster plans to be shared with others through this article.)