TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) \u2014 Leaders with Tampa Electric Company say they\u2019re paying it forward \u2013 by sharing some of their untapped hurricane resources with hurricane-impacted communities in the Panhandle.<\/p>\n
Since Tampa Bay isn\u2019t seeing any lasting impacts from the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, TECO\u2019s\u00a0Cherie Jacobs said that means crews are available to help out.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs many times as we\u2019ve had bad storms in the Tampa Bay area, we\u2019ve asked for help from other utilities; this is our opportunity to return that favor,\u201d said Jacobs.<\/p>\n
Saturday at dawn, around 60 TECO linemen and other personnel headed up to the Panhandle with tools, including an ATV and a set of solar panels, ready to be put to work wherever they\u2019re needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is the cavalry arriving to help make sure that everybody gets their power on,\u201d said Jacobs.<\/p>\n
Jacobs said crews will be directed by the utility company that requested them as part of their mutual aid agreement.<\/p>\n
Lineman Treston Wagner told 8 On Your Side that there are a lot of emotions that come with going out of town for business, but he says one of the biggest feelings is duty.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s your responsibility,\u201d said Wagner. \u201cYou sign up to come here and work, and when they send you out to the job, it\u2019s like you signed up for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wagner said crews try to work fast, while watching out for each other, because they know how it feels to sit in a hot, dark house waiting for relief.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had hurricanes down in Florida, so you kind of feel firsthand,\u201d said Wagner. \u201cWhen it comes to them being without power for a few days, we can understand what shoes they\u2019re in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jacobs says their crews have prepared to stay for as long as two weeks if need be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) \u2014 Leaders with Tampa Electric Company say they\u2019re paying it forward \u2013 by sharing some…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424730,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-424729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}