Out of state crews helping with restoration efforts in Connecticut set up camp at Lake Compounce
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BRISTOL, CT (WFSB) — Lake Compounce is playing an important role in the recovery effort here in the state.
Around 300 tree crew workers are staying at the amusement park.
They are part of a huge team of 2,300 tree and line workers, who are responding to the storm, from five different states: Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont.
“We create an army of workers overnight, and we need to feed them, house them, we need to get them work and manage them so they’re safe. So it’s a huge undertaking,” said Al Carey, vegetation manager for Eversource.
The campground at Lake Compounce in Bristol has become an Eversource staging area, and a temporary home to hundreds of front-line workers. Crew members stay there for short periods of rest after 17-hour days.
“They come in tired. You can hear it in their voice, you can see it in the way they carry themselves. They are very tired. It’s strenuous work, it’s hard work,” said Jim Trinque, area supervisor for Eversource.
The crew members sleep in trailers, wake up early, and head to the breakfast tent. Before they hit the road, they hold a quick meeting to go over the day’s goals, and emphasize their number one priority — staying safe.
“If somebody gets hurt, if there’s an injury, an accident, they type the missions a fail. We have to keep our people safe. We have to work quickly swiftly and do it safely,” Trinque said.
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