Actually, that wasn't an 'implication'. 
That was a fact. My friend was one of those people supervising those linesmen as they restored service. Retired after 30 years.  
He was the one who used the word "all". 
He also owned a boat and replaced a propeller on it using overtime money earned getting you your precious electricity back in the middle of the night!
As far as squirrels and power outages:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/the-bushy-tailed-nut-loving-menace-coming-after-americas-power-grid/2015/12/25/d4b4c2b6-a8db-11e5-9b92-dea7cd4b1a4d_story.html?utm_term=.10d2825d11b1

"The American Public Power Association, which represents municipal electric utilities and uses a “squirrel index” to track outages nationwide, says the critters remain the most frequent cause, even if those outages are more limited than storms." "Squirrels cause 10-20% of all outages."
Why the angst? It's not as if the linesman were throwing the squirrels on the lines or stuffing them into the substations!