Pee Dee Electric sent a line crew to Bowling Green, Va. Tuesday morning in anticipation of another major snow storm.

Still reeling with over 15,000 outages, Rappahannock Electric Cooperative in Bowling Green sent out the call for assistance to sister cooperatives in the south.

Record-breaking snowfall, ice and high winds last week had 42,000 people without power at the height of the storm.

As part of storm preparation, REC requested reinforcements from other cooperatives in the event they were needed.

“This is the third time this year we have sent crews to other coops,” said Mark Rhyne, director of engineering and operations. “I’m glad we are fortunate enough to be on the sending end rather than receiving help. In 2000 when we got hit hard by our storm of the century, we had help from all over. Coops take a lot of pride in helping each other out.”

Led by Operations Superintendent David Burr, the crew includes Travis Stillwell, Ian Morgan, Chris Baxley, Frank Webb, Frank McIntyre and Jody Keane.

Cooperatives across the country participate in a mutual aid agreement whereby a system needing assistance can quickly receive help in restoration efforts.

Rural Utilities Service sets the national construction standards for all cooperatives that build power lines, substations and all related infrastructure necessary to provide distribution of electric services.

The standards make it possible for sister coops to arrive at the damaged system and immediately begin restoration.

As part of the national standards, lineman that work for national electric cooperatives are trained on the construction standards. As lineman learn their trade and graduate to the highest level of training they reach the level of a Journey Lineman, capable of working anywhere in the United States and many overseas cooperatives built to the same standards.

This standardization makes it possible to restore power faster.