Rathdrum linemen, Spokane firefighter sent across the U.S. to assist in hurricane relief

People of the Inland Northwest took up a task this week to assist in aid efforts following two hurricanes in the southeast United States.

Four line workers based in Rathdrum volunteered to drive about 3,000 miles to help restore power in the wake of Hurricane Milton, which moved into Florida Wednesday night. Lead lineman Ryan Rollins, apprentice lineman Damon Palacios, lineman assistant/operator Clint Ducken and foreman Keith Gednalske of Kootenai Electric Cooperative all left North Idaho on Tuesday for Fort Meyers, Florida.

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association had sent out a call for mutual aid to other electric companies in preparation for the devastation following the storm. Lee County Electric Cooperative, a company based in Florida, indicated it needed a line construction crew with equipment for power restoration, VP of Member Service and Experience Erika Neff said in an email. It was a call the Kootenai Electric Cooperative answered.

“We had a variety of interest, so we gathered the people who were interested and we drew names,” said Melissa Newcomer, a manager at Kootenai Electric Cooperative.

The team will stay in tents nearby as it works 16-hour days for seven days straight to help restore power to six counties and 240,000 customers in Florida, Neff said. As of Wednesday night, the team was traveling through South Dakota and is expected to be in Fort Meyers on Friday.

While the team helps in other mutual aid assistance, “this is the longest distance they’ve ever traveled,” Neff wrote.

But the Rathdrum team isn’t the only one in the Inland Northwest helping with hurricane relief.

Lt. Brendan Craig of Spokane Fire Department Station 1 is in Newton, North Carolina, where he is helping establish communication lines between response teams following Hurricane Helene . The storm hit the southeastern United States in late September, and the damage has affected several Southern states.

Craig is part of an incident management team in contract with the Spokane Fire Department and the federal government. When larger storms, fires or other disasters hit, those with the incident management team will deploy to the affected area, department spokesperson Justin de Ruyter said. Craig works in communications, and the team needed a radio communication tech, he said.

“He came to work on Monday at Station 1. By the end of the day, he was in North Carolina,” de Ruyter said.