IID sends crews to help Camp Fire recovery

Late Monday afternoon, three of Imperial Irrigation District’s energy construction crews and one IID emergency response team headed to Paradise to help that Northern California area recover from some of the most devastating wildfires in the state’s history.

IID’s crews will be on the job anywhere from 14 to 18 days to “do whatever is needed,” said Tim Dickerson, energy construction and maintenance superintendent for the district’s La Quinta division.

“It may be a lot of overhead work,” Dickerson said, “but basically, we’ll be setting poles and do distribution work when necessary” in an effort to restore electricity to the devastated area.

Located in Butte County, east of Chico and north of Sacramento, the Camp Fire is the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history. It started Nov. 8 and has caused 77 civilian fatalities, covered an area of about 151,000 acres and destroyed about 12,000 single-family homes and forced thousands to evacuate.

In total, IID is sending a team of 17 that includes energy line construction personnel, emergency responders and a mechanic.

The district has a mutual aid agreement with most utilities. The request to assist at the Camp Fire was made by Pacific Gas & Electric.

—Richard Montenegro Brown, rbrown@

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