“This is the least we can do for these heroes of ours who traveled hundreds of miles to help our local community begin the rebuilding process after this devastating storm,” said Karlin. “We started as strangers, but we looked after them just as they looked after us, and we formed a special bond by the time our community was fully restored to service.”
About five miles over in another community, the City of Harahan wanted to have a “farewell, thank you” parade for the hundreds of FirstEnergy line workers who restored power to nearly 10,000 of its residents. However, the crews had already relocated to another damaged community about 40 minutes away before the plan could come to fruition.
“We are very southern in our philosophy here in Harahan, and we love a good parade,” said Harahan Mayor Tim Baudier. “We brought water and ice to them every morning, and we wanted to let them know that we appreciated them. We hope to stay in touch with them.”
Other acts of kindness on display across Louisiana included free laundry services for line workers who had started to run out of clean clothing and care packages filled with Louisiana favorites like Cajun seasonings and sauces that could be enjoyed with line workers’ families once they were home.
FirstEnergy is a member of multiple electric utility mutual-assistance groups that work cooperatively to restore service to customers when a natural disaster causes large-scale power outages. Mutual assistance allows utilities to pool their resources to help restore power to customers faster. FirstEnergy and its employees have been honored numerous times by the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) with its “Emergency Assistance Award” for the mutual assistance the company has provided during winter and summer storms.
The company’s line workers, forestry crews, support personnel and internal contractors have been in Louisiana assisting Entergy with restoration efforts for more than two weeks, and they expect to arrive home later this week.