National Grid Workers Set Up Camp at State Park

A mini-city of tents, showers, bathroom and dining facilities has been erected for work weary out-of-state crews at Sunken Meadow State Park.

The camp is one of nine around Long Island set up to feed and house restoration workers. According to Wendy Ladd, spokeswoman for National Grid, there are 350 restoration workers housed at the camp, which is run by National Grid.

The facility is completely self-sustaining with personnel for cooking and running the camp. A hand written sign set up outside the camp proclaimed, "National Grid, thank you and God bless, love Long Island."

The crews, made up of tree workers and linesmen, are dispatched to surrounding towns, often leaving in the early morning hours and not returning, in some cases until after midnight or later. The restoration workers housed at the camp come from all around, including Massachusetts, Tennessee and Canada.

The National Guard is set up in an adjacent parking lot and has helped to secure the fuel tankers used to gas up the repair trucks and generators used to run the site.

According to John Bruckner, National Grid president, 6,400 out of a total of 15,000 restoration workers present on Long Island are from out of state or Canada. Bruckner said in a call Monday afternoon that workers will continue the effort to restore power as well as work on permanent repairs to the system, which saw many temporary repairs in the effort to bring customers back up.

Ladd said there are tentative plans to demobilize Sunken Meadow next week.