Four Okanagan employees are among a group from Fortis that have landed in Turks and Caicos to help recovery efforts following Hurricane Irma.

Nicole Bogdanovic, communications advisor at FortisBC, said the seven-man B.C. crew, which also includes two employees from 琉璃神社 and two from the South Okanagan, left 琉璃神社 International Airport on Saturday and are on the islands assessing damage.

Bogdanovic explained that with Fortis鈥� holdings in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean, the company has dealt with many hurricane events and was aware that they needed people ready to be put in place to aid in hurricane aftermath.

鈥淭he Turks and Caicos is serviced by one of our sister organizations Fortis TCI, which is owned by Fortis Inc.

鈥淭hey (Fortis Inc) put the call out Wednesday, the day prior Irma actually hitting the island and this group was really quick to volunteer,鈥� she added.

The crew includes six power line technicians and one supervisor.

鈥淲hat鈥檚 great about our crew is they have a lot of experience dealing with B.C.鈥檚 back country,鈥� Bogdanovic explained. 鈥淎nd what we experience here with wildfires and restoring service in pretty remote areas when they don鈥檛 have access to infrastructure. That鈥檚 what they鈥檒l be facing in the Turks and Caicos because the island is without infrastructure.鈥�

This should prove to be invaluable experience as they must clear transportation routes from power line debris with little infrastructure or heavy equipment on the ground to help.

Fortis Inc is sending a total of 58 Canadian employees to Turks and Caicos islands. The assignment is expected to last three weeks.