First Energy is sending 200 of its employees south to help communities during Hurricane Helene.

First Energy spokesman Todd Meyers said the 200 would be removed from utilities in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia and Maryland. While the majority of workers will be road workers, vehicle mechanics and supervisors will also be involved.

“West Virginia and Maryland (workers) have already gone to North Carolina and will assist Duke Energy with possible outages,” Meyers said. “Workers from New Jersey and Pennsylvania will travel to Atlanta to help Georgia Power.”

He said nearly half of all workers will come from Pennsylvania and leave Friday morning.

West Penn Power will send 19 workers, including four mechanics and one supervisor. They come from New Kensington, Kittanning, Latrobe, Butler, Charleroi, Connellsville, Washington and Clarion. Another First Energy utility, Penn Power, will also send six line workers from Clark, New Castle and Cranberry.

“The utility industry is built on the idea of ​​mutual aid during big storms like this,” Meyers said. “These same crews from the south are helping us with our severe winter storms.”

Meyers said when storms like Helene reach the radar, utilities begin making calls and discussing how much help they will need when the storm hits. The host utilities make plans about how many workers, where the outsourced workers will be deployed, and how much money it will cost before requesting the mutual assistance workers.

Duquesne Light spokeswoman Alyssa Battaglia said mutual aid member groups have not requested resource support from Duquesne Light Co. She said the status could change.

Although it appears as if there is a sizable First Energy force heading south, Meyers said the travelers are spread out enough among the offices that no one is left short-handed.

“Whatever could cause an outage, we need to make sure we have those people on hand at the facility,” Meyers said. “We have to send enough teams who can help. Overall it makes for a pretty good force, but we never clear out entire areas.”