CL&P crews staged at Hammonasset

MADISON, Conn. (WTNH) -- It all starts at Hammonasset State Park. All the king's horses, or in this case, electrical workers, are staged at the State Park since Sandy, to restore power.

"It's a great staging location for the 400 crews, plus or minus, that we have here today. It's also the most efficient way to deploy our line crews and our tree crews," Frank Poirot, a CL&P spokesman, said.

Although the number of those without electricity is dwindling, four days after Sandy, so is the temperature, and the rank-and-file are feeling that heat.

"Some areas are energized, others are not, and we have to keep everybody informed throughout the day as the scope of work changes," Dave Lankowski, an electrical worker, said.

News 8's Jeff Valin asked, "For safety reasons?"

"That's correct," Lankowski said.

But rewiring Connecticut involves removing and recycling brush and old equipment, and all those trucks.

"There are entire streets, actually, where the distribution systems are being not simply repaired but because of the extent of damage, they're being completely rebuilt," Poirot said.

With so many personnel from out of state, no wonder this place resembles a M*A*S*H* unit.

"We have a mess hall, we've got a storage area, fueling areas, as well as laundry," Poiroit said.

CL&P brass say they expect that restoration will be substantially complete by early next week. For workers that means sometimes 16 hours in the bucket, but they know that for a lot of locals it's been a lot more than that up in the air.

"By Sunday we had crews here on the ground, waiting for the storm. We were restoring customers during the storm when it was safe to do so," Poirot said.

Not just for the future of Connecticut, but with polling stations to power come Election Day Tuesday, perhaps with deeper if subtler implications for the future of the country.

"To the customers who are without power right now, I know this might be little solace to them, but we are going to work as hard and as safely as we can until everybody gets back up and running," Poirot said.