COEUR d'ALENE — Kootenai County commissioners on Wednesday declared last week's snowfall a disaster, opening the possibility for companies such as Kootenai Electric Cooperative to recover some uninsured costs associated with the event.

Sandy Von Behren, Kootenai County's Office of Emergency Management director, said Kootenai Electric Cooperative's estimated $1.85 million in uninsured and extraordinary costs associated with the heavy snowfall triggered the disaster resolution.

"The wet, heavy snow really created problems," Von Behren said.

Of KEC's 27,000 members, 17,765 were without power at some point during the storm. KEC brought in 17 contract and vegetation management crews that worked around the clock over the Christmas holiday to restore power.

"This was the greatest number of contractors KEC has ever had on our system, even surpassing the November wind storm," said Melissa Newcomer, KEC spokeswoman. "By the afternoon of Dec. 24, more than 35 percent of our members were without power with more than 110 known outage locations across our service territory. Due to the continued snowfall across the region, many members experienced periodic outages as well as outages lasting several days."

On Saturday KEC began using helicopters to patrol the lines and knock snow from the lines and nearby trees to prevent more outages.

"This tactic has been extremely successful," Newcomber said. "However, with more than 1,000 miles of overhead lines as a target for nearby trees, we will continue to use helicopters to remove snow from the trees until the weather turns and the snow is naturally sloughed off."

Avista can't claim uninsured costs as KEC did because it is a private company. The disaster declaration pertains only to public agencies and nonprofits, not individual homeowners.

The county's declaration does not necessarily mean federal funding will be received. It is just the first required step in the process.

Von Behren said one of the criteria for obtaining funding assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency is if at least $2.4 million in uninsured and extraordinary costs from the snowfall is claimed by agencies or nonprofits in counties where a disaster was declared.

Von Behren said KEC is the lone business, agency or nonprofit that has filed for assistance. The deadline to file is Monday.

Public agencies and nonprofits in Kootenai County can file uninsured costs at [email protected] or call 446-1775.

If all criteria are met with the disaster declaration, which also includes approval at the state and federal levels, agencies can receive as much as 75 percent of their total uninsured costs.

With no thaw predicted in the near future, Von Behren said, residents and businesses are urged to conduct snow removal and property maintenance evaluations as soon as possible.

"Preventative maintenance is the primary approach to mitigate additional damage that could result in property damage, economic loss or personal injury," a Kootenai County press release stated.