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Linemen from 10 South Carolina electric cooperatives, along with their spouses, met with Gov. Henry McMaster in the governor’s office after being honored at the annual State of the State address Feb. 3, 2025.
Photo by Avery Wilks
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Tyler Pope of Coastal Electric (left) and Chris Glenn of Fairfield Electric meet First Lady Peggy McMaster and Gov. Henry McMaster, who distributed commemorative coins to the linemen.
Photo by Josh P. Crotzer
It was late one evening in early February before several of the state’s electric cooperative linemen returned to their homes and were finally out of their uniforms.
That’s not unusual. Late nights are part of the job.
However, on this night, they’d not been working to restore power. Ten linemen, each representing the South Carolina electric cooperatives that were hit hardest by Hurricane Helene, were recognized during Gov. Henry McMaster’s annual State of the State address Feb. 3 for the work they did to restore power after the storm.
“It’s definitely an honor,” says Noah Edmonds, an apprentice lineman at Little River Electric. “Being a co-op lineman, I know the people in my community, and I can see how we’ve helped people. I appreciate the governor recognizing us for that.”
During his speech at the State House, McMaster recounted the devastation South Carolina suffered from one of the deadliest and most destructive storms in state history.
Within the cooperative system alone, Helene snapped more than 5,500 co-op poles and knocked out power for 425,000 meters—almost half of South Carolina’s co-op members.
The electric cooperative linemen were joined by lineworkers from Duke Energy, Dominion Energy and Santee Cooper in the gallery of the House of Representatives. Collectively, they received a standing ovation from the S.C. General Assembly and guests in attendance.
Later, the lineworkers joined McMaster for a group photo in his office and then attended a reception at the Governor’s Mansion.
“I’m awestruck, very humbled to be here,” says Eric Price, a construction crew leader with Mid-Carolina Electric. “It’s unheard of for a little old lineman to show up in the State House.”
The grandness of the evening came in stark contrast to what the linemen experienced during their grueling restoration efforts after Helene. At the affected co-ops, the lineworkers were faced with an extensive rebuilding of their electric delivery system.
“It was hard to deal with at the beginning,” says Jason Tumblin, a service technician with Laurens Electric. “It was six days before I could get anybody back on. You go home every night, not having power in your own house, and get back up at 5 a.m. It was definitely a trying time.”
However, the appreciation cooperative members showed helped keep the lineworkers
going.
“We had multiple consumers with coolers in their driveways with refreshments for us. People came out and stopped us in the road to thank us,” says Hunter Black, a journeyman lineman with Newberry Electric. “You were going out personally helping people. It makes
you feel good.”
For Broad River Electric Lineman First Class Daniel Sams, who had a tree fall on his truck while he was responding to the storm’s first outages, the experience of Helene will stay with him for the rest of his career.
“It’s something that I’ll never forget,” says Sams. “It was catastrophic. But years down the road, you can be proud of it because you helped get everything back on.”