Wakefield Lineworkers Help Response To Hurricane Ian In Florida

WAKEFIELD, MA — Three members of the Wakefield Municipal Gas and Light Department headed to Florida this week to support local electricity crews ahead of the impacts of Hurricane Ian.

Wakefield lineworkers Ralph Brown and Nick DiPietro hit the road alongside Superintendent Paul Redmond and industry colleagues from the Peabody Municipal Light Plant, the Reading Municipal Light Department and Danvers Electric.

Those workers, in turn, are part of a larger mutual aid crew of 56 workers from 25 municipal light departments across southern New England, according to Reading Municipal Light Interim General Manager Greg Phipps.

See full coverage of Hurricane Ian.

The team was scheduled work with the Jacksonville Electric Authority in efforts to help quickly restore power after any outages during Ian’s impacts.

The Jacksonville Electric Authority serves customers in Duval and Nassau counties as well as parts of St. Johns and Clay counties in northeastern Florida.

Ian drew attention and prompted widespread warnings in recent days as it blazed north over parts of Cuba toward Florida.

The storm intensified into a category four hurricane before landfall on Wednesday, whipping 150-mile-per-hour winds and major storm surge as it came ashore near Fort Myers, Fla.

Local mutual aid operations in Florida were organized by the New England Public Power Association and Littleton Electric, according to Phipps.