BATON ROUGE - Louisiana co-op crews are assisting other co-ops in Florida. Fifteen DEMCO team members left late last week making their way to areas that took a direct hit from Hurricane Ian.

The goal is to get the lights turned back on as soon as possible.

"We never want anyone to be hit by a storm but we're happy to go help where there is devastation," David Latona of DEMCO said.

DEMCO is assisting Peace River Electric Cooperative in Florida, south of Tampa. Many states sent bucket truck convoys east and DEMCO crews left Thursday.

Hundreds of electric cooperative and contract crews from seven states are working to get Peace River electric's grid back online. DEMCO received assistance from this same co-op following Hurricane Ida.

"They'll show up, they'll be reunited with men and women they worked with during Ida last year," Latona said.

The 15 crew members are prepared. This is not their first trip picking up the pieces from a storm. The crews travel in caravans and stay for two weeks before returning home to their families.

"They should be able to work on something that's very meticulous and very dangerous without any distractions," Latona said.

If work requires DEMCO to stay in Florida beyond two weeks, crews will be swapped out.