OG&E Crews Work Behind the Scenes, In the Field Nonstop

NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- OG&E has been working to get customers back on line. Crews have been out working on power lines around the clock but there's another crew working behind the scenes to get you out of the dark.

The command post is the heartbeat of OG&E's mission to restore power to its customers, the place where outages are reported and crews are then dispatched.

"We move our line crews from other districts into the districts that need the work," said Gary Rowlett, OG&E Operations Section Chief.

Gary Rowlett is among those in charge of the command center. He said there are four

staging areas for crews, Pauls Valley, Ada, Shawnee and Seminole. From those four towns, more than 300 lineman are putting in long days to get the electricity back on.

"We have quite a few contractors and mutual assistance along with all our line crews from Fort Smith, Enid, Sapulpa, Muskogee, just all over the state. We have them all in here working," Rowlett said.

Elizabeth Givens works in the control center and she takes care of the crews. She makes sure they're well fed and also have a warm place to stay at night. Yet finding hotel rooms during an ice storm isn't always easy.

"We're also competing with the people who live in those areas without power and they need rooms, or the people traveling through the area and they stop because the weather has gotten really bad," said Elizabeth Givens.

OG& E said its main priority during bad weather is safety. They don't want anyone getting hurt while on the job. That's why they're asking customers to just be patient.

"Remember these guys are out there working from about 5:30 in the morning until about 7:30 at night, 14 to16 hours a day. Believe me they want to get people on, they take pride in that," Rowlett said.

OG&E said it's goal is to have the power back on to its customers by Monday.