DeRidder, LA – Beauregard Electric Cooperative, Inc. (BECi) was one of eight electric cooperatives in Louisiana to send men and equipment to help restore power to co-op members in Arkansas after a deadly winter ice storm moved through the region this week.
Nearly 70 co-op crewmen were dispatched to Craighead Electric Cooperative in Jonesboro, Ark., on Wednesday to assist in the power recovery effort after more than 200,000 Arkansas citizens were left without electricity. Those Louisiana co-ops releasing crews along with Beauregard Electric in DeRidder were Claiborne Electric in Homer, Washington-St. Tammany Electric in Franklinton, Northeast Electric in Winnsboro, Pointe Coupee Electric in New Roads, South Louisiana Electric in Houma, Dixie Electric in Baton Rouge and Valley Electric in Natchitoches.
The linemen were expected to be working in the Jonesboro area for roughly one week to repair the system which sustained major damage and lost over 2,000 utility poles.
Officials at BECi said they were eager to assist the Arkansas co-op after dozens of fellow cooperatives sent aid to southwest Louisiana after Hurricane Rita in 2005. BECi General Manager Kevin Turner noted that more than 900 electric cooperatives throughout the country maintain mutual aid agreements with one another to help restore power after an emergency. He said each cooperative is obligated to help others, but only after local needs are met.
“We take care of whatever needs to be done here at home before we send help,” Turner said. “But I can tell you our guys are very eager to get on the road and help those who are in need. When they go help a community that’s struggling without power, they take a tremendous amount of pride in representing Beauregard Electric and the state of Louisiana in how hard, how professionally and how safely they work. Our guys want to put their best foot forward and show the linemen who came here that we can work just as hard as they can, or harder. It’s like an unspoken, good-natured competition that really motivates the men and makes it fun for them.”
The mass movement of electric cooperative crews released to another region or received in times of crisis in Louisiana is coordinated by the Association of Louisiana Electric Cooperatives (ALEC) in Baton Rouge. Much of this work is conducted by veteran lineman and seasoned safety instructor Mike Bergeaux, ALEC director of training, safety and loss control. He said Louisiana co-ops are also considering sending help to Kentucky, which experienced nearly 300,000 outages from the storm system.
“Every cooperative in the ALEC family is an integral part of a state and national network of hundreds of fellow cooperatives,” Bergeaux said. “It’s incumbent upon us to work together and help one another in times of disaster, to make sure that our power delivery systems are repaired as quickly, as safely and as cost-effectively as possible. It’s a lot of work, but our co-op members depend on us.”
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