It matters who’s in charge.
I know utilities and contractors send their crews down to help.
I do electrical distribution design and have worked for utility companies.
It’s called the “Mutual Assistance Program”.
Definitely and I appreciate the work that you do. I totally understand that the work would never get done as quickly without the assistance of other states.
It also helps if the local utility company has a clue and has kept up on normal repairs, cleared right of ways and has people worth more than a bologna sandwich.
The electric co-op I grew up with had it’s eyes on the ball. Never let ROW’s get overgrown, kept the equipment in good repair and kept their people up to snuff on training for emergencies. If we ever lost power it was unusual for it to be more than a few hours. A couple of days and they considered it catastrophic.
The electric co-op I was on for part of my first marriage was a mirror image of the above. Equipment was old and cranky, ROW’s were always overgrown and the people couldn’t be bothered to work hard. They constantly have outages that last a week or more.