New York getting Spokane-area help

Efforts to restore power in the storm-ravaged New York region are getting a Spokane-area boost. Several utility crews from the Bonneville Power Administration have been sent to Long Island, N.Y. to assist with efforts to get power restored. The 19 volunteers and five of their 14 trucks were loaded onto a military transport jet Saturday at Fairchild Air Force Base, officials said. They were flown to an air force base in New Jersey, where they were expected to travel to Long Island. Fairchild was advised of the relief mission late Friday, and mobilized airmen to prep and load the equipment for the flight. “Our logistics airmen were running 24-hour operations as soon as we were notified,” Air Force Col. Shawn Teagan, operations group commander for the Fairchild-based 92nd Air Refueling Wing, said in prepared remarks. “The attention to detail they’ve given to this mission has been first class.”