7
March/April 2024
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THE DAVEY BULLETIN
MISSION
WINTER STORMS EMBER AND FINN HIT THE NORTHEAST
Winter Storms Ember and Finn swept across the country,
hitting the Northeastern U.S. within several days of each other,
bringing snow, heavy rain and flooding, and power outages.
A total of 242 Eastern Utility services employees traveled
from the Midwest, Northeast and Southeast to assist Con
Edison, National Grid, and Rhode Island Energy with power
restoration efforts.
Locally, 93 Eastern Utility employees responded to assist
Jersey Central Power & Light, Public Service Enterprise
Group, and Rhode Island Energy.
"We don't typically see these back-to-back storms," said
Matt Roddy, financial operations manager, Eastern Utility
services. "The storm recovery work took about a week
and a half."
Nathaniel VanBelle, general foreman, DTE Energy account,
said when they got the initial call to respond to Winter Storm
Ember, they were willing and ready.
"We arrived at our staging site in a town called Peabody,
Massachusetts, north of Boston, before the storm hit,"
VanBelle said. "We were still cleaning up from Ember when
Finn hit. There was a lot of tree damage and limbs on lines,
and then occasional trees that had uprooted, taking out the
power lines."
An uprooted tree lands on a house north of Boston. Five,
two-person crews on the DTE Energy account, led by general
foreman Nathan VanBelle, traveled from Michigan to the Northeast
and spent a week and a half cleaning up after Winter Storms Ember
and Finn in Rockport, Gloucester and Beverly, Massachusetts.
Far left: David Torres,
general foreman, led 13
employees on the DTE
Energy account, who
responded to damaged
power lines in Beverly,
Massachusetts.
Left: A tree balances on
power lines post-storm.
