Snohomish County PUD crews working around the clock to restore power to thousands

SNOHOMISH, Wash. — Repair crews are working around the clock to restore power to customers after the recent storm.

At the peak, Snohomish County had 135,000 outages. Wednesday night, that number was down to 38,000.

“It’s just a prepared thing. We’re so good at being prepared as best we can,” said Sue Martin, warehouse foreman at the Snohomish County PUD operations center.

The warehouse team is described as the backbone of restoration efforts, making sure all the materials are on hand so that field crews get what they need to make repairs.

“If they get out there and they realize that they need more stuff, they just call we have delivery drivers around the clock to get stuff out to them,” said Martin.

A night after the storm, local crews working 40 hours straight finally got some rest.

Now, the district is getting support from other areas.

During our visit, a mutual aid crew arrived from Mason County.

“We’ll do a 40-hour stint–probably get a hotel, take some rest, and then come back. We’re here for the long run until everything’s back up and ready to go,” said Michael Tratnick, a lineman with Mason County PUD.

Martin says it’s teamwork–everyone pulling together–to make sure crews can finish the job.

“I wish we could get it done tonight, because we know there’s people that don’t have power. But you know, those guys out on the line crews … luckily, it’s not pouring down right now, it’s not 20 degrees–but it’s still stinking cold out there and they’re kicking butt,” said Martin.

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