Two line workers from Oconto Electric Cooperative (OEC) are among the hundreds dispatched to the East Coast to help restore power to areas stricken by Hurricane Helene.
Journeyman Ben Wilcox and apprentice Maguire Girtz joined a group of 45 Wisconsin and Michigan electric cooperative workers who departed Oct. 2 to assist Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative in Pickens, South Caroliina. Blue Ridge has 73,000 members and more than 60,000 were out of power after the devastating storm.
They met up at Rock Energy Cooperative in Janesville before beginning their journey, traveling in a convoy of 12 vehicles split into two groups.
“Made it to SC. Got half dozen poles loaded and a bunch of material ready for the morning,” Wilcox and Girtz posted on OEC’s Facebook page Oct. 4. “The damage is beyond words.”
Officials estimated there were 300 snapped poles to replace just in the Pickens area.
OEC workers help clean up after Helene
