Georgia Power joined with The National Association of Journeymen Linemen, other Georgia electric utilities, elected officials and customers to say "thank you" to the state's linemen at the Georgia Capitol prior to the first-ever observance of Georgia Lineman Appreciation Day on Friday, April 18.

During the event, which was attended by line personnel from across the state, Georgia Secretary of the Senate David Cook read excerpts from Georgia Senate Resolution 1026, adopted on Feb. 24, designating April 18 as Georgia Lineman Appreciation Day. The Georgia resolution follows the 2013 approval by the U.S. Senate of Resolution 95 which designated April 18 as National Lineman Appreciation Day. U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey also attended the event, where he acknowledged the national recognition of linemen and expressed his support for the vital work performed by Georgia line crews.

Linemen from across Georgia gathered Thursday at the Capitol to be recognized prior to the first-ever Georgia Lineman Appreciation Day on April 18. Georgia Power employs more than 1,100 line personnel across the state – the company’s first responders when severe weather impacts service to customers.

"On behalf of Georgia Power, I am extremely proud to recognize the dedicated employees of Georgia Power and the work they do 24 hours a day to ensure the safety, availability and reliability of power to our customers throughout the state," said Leslie Sibert, vice president of distribution for Georgia Power at the event. "It is inspiring to know that their commitment is recognized within the highest levels of government and we look forward to marking this day of appreciation for many years to come."

The work of Georgia linemen is visible year round, but is especially pronounced during outages which may occur following spring and summer thunderstorms, tornadoes and winter ice storms including, most recently, the February storm that wreaked havoc and impacted service to hundreds of thousands of Georgians. In the aftermath of the February storm, one of the most disruptive in company history, thousands of Georgia Power line personnel and contractors worked with crews from other utilities around the clock to restore 700,000 power outages in just four days.

In addition to serving the company's 2.4 million customers in Georgia, Georgia Power linemen are often called away from their families to help restore power to neighboring states when major storms or disasters occur.

Georgia Power linemen can travel thousands of miles each year and, in 2013, spent weeks in the field helping restore power to customers as far away as Arkansas and Washington, D.C. The company has received recognition from the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) for outstanding emergency response including the Emergency Recovery Award and the Emergency Assistance Award.

See here a series of five videos on the life of a lineman on Transmission & Distribution.