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PUD 3 crew restores
Journal staff
news@masoncounty. com
When audiences were updated Sept.
17 on the “State of the Community” for
Mason Public Utility District 3, they
also heard about help the PUD gave to
a fellow utility in need amid the state’s
wildfires.
Lynn Eaton, communications and
government relations manager for Ma-
son PUD 3, told an online audience of
the Shelton-Mason County and North
Mason chambers of commerce meeting
that the PUD sent a crew to help re-
store power to 2,400 public utility cus-
tomers in Central Washington’s Doug-
las County after more than 223,730
acres burned there.
Eaton touted the partnerships and
mutual aid agreements among public
utility districts as one of the benefits of
“public power.” Starting Sept. 13, the
PUD 3 crew spent five days working
through heat, smoke and dust to help
replace more than 300 power poles de-
stroyed in the Pearl Hill Fire.
This crew was made up of heavy
. equipment operator Seth St. John, jour-
neymen linemen Blake Knutz, Ronny
McIrvin and Matt Schlesser, appren-
tice lineman Brian Evans and line fore-
man John Clements. Each sent photos
of the crew’s workday back home.
On Sept. 17, the same day Eaton ad-
dressed the two chambers, Clements
marked the crew’s last day in Douglas
County with a photo titled “last pole,”
which Eaton later described as “telling
a story of exhaustion and accomplish-
ment.”
The Mason PUD 3 crew was joined
by more than 120 linemen, including
contractors and other utilities through-
.;.:::~'2 .
“mount Due
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,‘Never miss a payment:
fire-damaged poles in Douglas
out Washington as part of the mutual
aid agreement among public power
utilities.
“Mutual aid is just what it sounds
like utilities helping each other in
times of need,” Eaton said. “When,
and even before, a major disaster hits
a utility’s territory, and the utility
knows that its own crews and equip-
ment won’t be enough to restore power
quickly, it calls for mutual aid. It pro-
vides its best estimate of how many
people it needs, and what type of skills
they should have. The utility also speci-
fies equipment and material needs, and
other utilities in the network respond
with what they can offer.”
As part of the agreement, the utility
requesting mutual aid must make ar-
rangements to house, feed and care for
the crews that come in.
“Typically, the utility requesting
help also pays other utilities that send
help,” Eaton said.
Mason PUD 3 Operations Manager
Chris Miller expressed pride in the
utility’s employees for representing
) (6
Mason s core values” well, a sentiment
echoed by PUD General Manager An-
nette Creekpaum.
“I was looking at those pictures and
thought, ‘Wow this is going to be a lot of
work!’ ” Creekpaum said. “We all echo
the feeling of being proud of our crew
over there. Once again, Mason PUD 3
was represented well. We have the best
team. “
Because public power utilities are
community-owned resources, Eaton
said the public should expect them to
be committed to improving the resilien-
cy of their systems, responding quickly
to disasters and restoring service as
quickly as possible.
360898248 1 wwwhccnet
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(360) 999-2481
(360) 998-4357
(900) 5534344
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300 c Ddby Rd
Sign up ,to-daycat» billeavshcsnét *
Thursday, Sept. 24, 2020 Shelton-Mason County Journal Page A-13
Café celebrates grand opening
With Chamber, downtown
Theresa and Rick Landsiedel, center holding giant scissors, cut a
ribbon Friday in front of their business, T’s Café and Espresso, 118 8.
Third St., in downtown Shelton. The Shelton-Mason County Chamber
of Commerce hosted the ribbon-cutting, and the café shared samples
of the cuisine. Journal photo by Gordon Weeks '
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