Teams From Central Kentucky Travel Across State Lines to Restore Power to Hundreds of Thousands
LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – “Building a home can take anywhere between eight months to a year,” said Director of Emergency Disaster Services of Lexington, Matt Daley.
Daley and his team are building whole cities in 24 hours.
“I’m from Eastern Kentucky. Where I grew up, there are still people in that area who do not have power.”
Daley is currently on site of a camp his team built for hundreds of line men and crews working to restore power to those who have been without.
“When we first arrived, there was somewhere near 100,000 customers of Appalachian Power without power. It went down to 50,000 the day we set up and started housing people.”
These camps are full of enough sleepers to house 800 crew, housing 400 due to COVID. Daley is currently in West Virginia, after spending the past few days constructing camps at three different locations in Eastern Kentucky.
“These people are working very long nights. Our job is to take care of them. We’re not the heroes, but we’re taking care of those heroes.”
While he may not see himself as a hero, Daley’s providing food, electricity and warm places to sleep for crews coming as far away as Canada, Oregon and California, working to restore power right here in the Commonwealth.
“They rip and run as soon as they get up. They’re in that bucket truck and heading down the road.”
While crews work to restore power after the winter storm, Daley suggests if you have the means, to donate to the American Red Cross, or other non-profits helping right now.
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