PRESQUE ISLE COUNTY, MI – A Northern Michigan sheriff is pleading with residents to be kind and work together after reported threats toward utility workers trying to restore power back to a region devastated by the recent ice storm.
In a video posted to his department’s Facebook page, Presque Isle County Sheriff Joe Brewbaker said there had been recent remarks made against utility companies and linemen “all the way up to death threats for some people’s power not being on.”
“Folks, this storm was compared to a category-five hurricane, and no one could’ve prepared us for the amount of devastation that hit our area,” he said Thursday, April 10.
“Please, understand that everyone involved is doing their very best.”
Presque Isle County is located at the northeastern-most tip of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, and with a census population of roughly 13,000, it’s covered by multiple utility companies for gas and electric power, including partially Consumers and DTE Energy.
However, Presque Isle Electric & Gas Co-op covers utility users in most of the county’s communities, according to the Michigan Public Service Commission.
Presque Isle County Sheriff Joe Brewbaker addresses the public in a video on his department's Facebook page on Thursday, April 10, 2025. Photo used with permission.Photo used with permission.
As of 8 a.m. Thursday, the co-op reported they had reached 72% restoration in response to late March’s severe weather that downed trees and power infrastructure and cut off power to thousands of Michiganders.
So far, that meant 25,211 Presque Isle co-op members’ power was restored with 9,789 still out. There were also 360 crews and 1,293 personnel in the field, the co-op reported, and that 1,144 poles had been replaced — more than twice the typical 500 poles replaced in a year.
By Monday, April 7, the co-op reported they were restoring 3,000 members a day.
On Thursday, Brewbaker said utility companies were waiting on supplies, adding it’s “been very hard to get as many parts and poles and wire as needed” for as much damage that hit the area.
Any death threats, the sheriff said, “could be criminal charges.”
“We all need to be kind to each other,” Brewbaker said, and to “work together” while power is restored. He thanked local fire and EMS response, the Red Cross, sheriff’s department personnel, the U.S. National Guard, and the local emergency service coordinator for additional response to the recent storm devastation.