Davey: Davey Responds After Record-Setting Outage


Davey Responds After Record-Setting Outage

Davey Tree Utility Services worked to help restore power to hundreds of thousands of customers in Oklahoma affected by the December 2007 ice storms that caused the largest outage in state history.

More than 90 Davey crewmembers and support staff assisted Oklahoma Gas and Electric Company. The storm began Dec. 8 and caused precipitation to freeze on trees and power lines, bringing lines down and cutting off power to more than 600,000 homes and businesses – or 40 percent of the population, according to reports.

A majority of Davey workers teamed with line crews to clear limbs that fell or froze to power lines. Crews were dispatched before sunrise Dec. 9, and some worked more than 24 hours in initial storm response efforts. They then worked 12-hour days helping to restore power. Most response work ended by Christmas.
Davey worked to help restore power where entire circuits were locked out. The circuits were prioritized by which customers were on them, such as hospitals, emergency services and those that provided power to large numbers of customers.

OG&E serves more than 755,000 customers in Oklahoma and western Arkansas, and its electric transmission and distribution systems cover 30,000 square miles.