NB Power crews get support from communities as restoration continues

NB Power crews are working long hours in an attempt to bring power back to residents and are receiving support from the communities they’re in, even as less than 5,000 New Brunswickers still wait for the lights and heat to come back on after last week’s ice storm.

READ MORE: NB needs tougher power grid, poles to withstand ice storms, David Coon says

The storm left about 130,000 people without power at the height of the weather event. Power crews were sent out, and as the week progressed, volunteers, Emergency Measures Organization (EMO) personnel and Canadian Forces members were dispatched to check on residents and provide assistance.

For Paul Bourdages, the foreman of a 20-lineman crew in Pigeon Hill, N.B., the job has been a time-consuming process.

“They replace the pole, they put the pole back in the ground, then we put the wire back up and the cross arm and all the loop goes back to the houses,” Bourdages said. “That’s the last thing we do, then we close the transformer, give them power.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "They replace the pole, they put the pole back in the ground, then we put the wire back up and the cross arm and all the loop goes back to the houses," Bourdages said. "That's the last thing we do, then we close the transformer, give them power."

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The process itself can take an hour or longer and with a domino line of fallen poles along a two-kilometre stretch, it can all come down to weather.

Sending crews to the areas is the responsibility of NB Power regional engineer Julien Saulnier, who said there are still several areas to go. He said there’s progress to be made in Pokemouche, Sheila and Rivière-du-Portage, as well as Lameque and Miscou.

Saulnier said there’s only one method of restoring power properly.

“We need to be doing this in sequences, so that’s why in outbound areas it’s harder to bring power in the first place,” Saulnier said. “There are some locations where you don’t see any NB Power crews. It’s normal. We have to progress in order and that’s what we’re doing.”

READ MORE: NB financial assistance program launched to help residents after ice storm

Officials with NB Power said about 75 per cent of power has been restored to the Acadian Peninsula, an area Premier Brian Gallant said on Tuesday was one of the hardest hit.  Spokesperson Marie-Andree Bolduc told Global News bringing power back to the area has been helped by the community.

“People have been rallying together,” Bolduc said. “There’s a local pharmacy that has donated $500 worth of Advil medication, Lypsyl, muscle relaxants for the crews or gel I should say. They’re working long hours in tough conditions so everyone in the community is really rallying for them.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "People have been rallying together," Bolduc said. "There's a local pharmacy that has donated $500 worth of Advil medication, Lypsyl, muscle relaxants for the crews or gel I should say. They're working long hours in tough conditions so everyone in the community is really rallying for them."

The crews have been working 16- to 18-hour days since being dispatched, but Bourdages said they’ll keep working until the job is done.

“There’s still a lot of work to do, but the good news for the people of Pigeon Hill, we’re 30 linemen, we’re ready to work and we’re all cranked up to put the line back on,” he said.

– With files from Paul Cormier, Global News