Lineworkers Hike Miles to Restore Power at VA Hospital After Hurricane Helene [Video]

In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, two lineworkers for an energy company spoke about the difficult but eventually successful task of restoring electrical power for a VA hospital in hard-hit western North Carolina. 

In a video shared to Facebook on Oct. 5 by Duke Energy, lineworker Matt Martinka and his apprentice, Nathan Curlee, hiked 1.5 miles through “rough terrain” to put in a temporary line for the Asheville VA Medical Center while the primary power infrastructure is being rebuilt. (Per a spokesperson for Duke Energy, the two men traveled “three total miles to the site and back.”)

“I heard in the office that there’s a chance we can get the VA backfed and get the VA hospital back on,” Martinka recalled in the video.

The lineworker, who served in the Air Force, added that he comes from a long line of military members in his family — and that his son is a Marine. “So I said, ‘Hey, I want …