close

County escapes serious power-production problems

By Steve Ferris 5 min read

Some electricity customers throughout the Mid-Atlantic region last week got a small taste of the power problems that people on the West Coast have contended with in recent years. And while Fayette County has not suffered from a widespread brownout or blackout due to overloads from energy use, local emergency agencies say they have contingencies in place should one occur.

On Wednesday, regional power grid operator PJM Interconnection LLC asked electric customers in the Mid-Atlantic to conserve energy and lowered the voltage to certain customers by 5 percent.

The request came after the power grid that distributes electricity to 13 East Coast and Mid-Atlantic states operated at a world-record peak Tuesday.

PJM said the reductions were meant to “maintain system reliability in the face of the intense heat wave.” By Thursday, though, the heat wave had broken and PJM canceled its conservation advisory and the 5 percent reduction. PJM’s actions did not affect this area.

Every department in Uniontown Hospital has a manual detailing response plans for power outages and any other emergency that might place patients or staff at risk, hospital officials said.

Employees receive training about how to respond to the different types of emergencies, and five or six drills are conducted every year for practice, according to Janice Curry, the hospital’s safety officer and director of risk management.

“You can’t drill too much,” she said.

Curry said each department has a plan for what to do in the event of a failure of utilities including electricity, water and sewage, as well as other emergencies, like child abductions, hostage situations, hazardous spills and bomb threats. Each emergency is assigned a code.

Hospital Community Relations Director Karen DeiCas said all 1,100 employees are trained in how to respond to each code.

“We have to have the ability to run 24/7,” DeiCas said.

Mark Robaugh, a maintenance worker, said the hospital has four backup diesel-powered generators that produce 70 to 75 percent of full power.

The system activates automatically within seconds when there is a power outage, he said.

“Two or four seconds – it’s on,” Robaugh said.

When the power is restored, the backup system automatically shuts off, he said.

The back-up generators power primary lighting, air conditioning, heat, operating rooms, the intensive care unit and other essential facilities.

Patient rooms have outlets connected to the backup system so ventilators and other electric-powered equipment can function during an outage, said Don Record, vice president of support services.

The hospital tests the backup generators monthly and maintains them regularly, Robaugh said.

The Fayette County Emergency Management Department tests its emergency backup system every week, Director Roy Shipley said.

He said that although Fayette County has never experienced a major power grid failure, the 911 Center is prepared for any outage.

“We work with the power companies. They have a list of the special needs facilities, such as nursing homes or personal homes, where people are on oxygen or other medical equipment,” Shipley said. “All of your hospitals have backup power and most nursing homes do.”

The 911 center has an emergency power supply that automatically kicks in during a power failure.

“We have generator capabilities here that can power our building and the 911 center. We have a 14-day supply of fuel,” Shipley said.

He said many Fayette County residents are used to minor power failures due to snowstorms, so they could handle an outage for a day or two.

He advised that area residents should always have an emergency kit on hand that includes fresh batteries, flashlights, candles, lanterns or other light sources and a battery-powered radio so they can get official information that may be needed.

“They need to use common sense, neighbors helping neighbors and checking on people who are elderly or who have medical conditions,” Shipley said.

While local residents should have the services of the hospital and 911 in the event of a blackout, they might want to consider storing some water for themselves.

That’s what the county’s two largest water companies do.

The North Fayette County Municipal Authority stores a two-day supply, while Pennsylvania-American Water Co. keeps a day to a day-and-a-half’s worth in reserve for the Brownsville area, officials said.

PAWC would purchase water from North Fayette for its customers in the Uniontown area, officials said.

Neither supplier has backup generators to run their treatment plants if the power goes out.

North Fayette Municipal Authority General Manager Bob Softcheck and PAWC spokesman Philip Cynar said it would not be cost effective to buy expensive generators capable of operating their treatment facilities, because they might never be needed.

Softcheck said the authority’s 16 million-gallon storage capacity has proven to be adequate for brief outages that have lasted several hours.

“After a day, I’d probably get a little nervous,” Softcheck said.

He estimated that a generator strong enough to run the plant would cost “in the $500,000 range.”

“It’s a big expense for something that isn’t used very much,” he said.

The authority’s plant has a smaller generator for lighting, but it is 13 years old and parts for it are difficult to find, he said.

Cynar said PAWC’s plant in Brownsville supplies water to Uniontown. A reservoir in Brownsville has enough water for residents in that area for one to one-and-a-half days, he said.

He said he doubts that Uniontown and Brownsville receive power from the same electrical grid, so a power outage would probably not affect both areas.

“We should be able to withstand a power outage that is not of a catastrophic nature,” Cynar said.

A backup generator would be “way too cost prohibitive for customers to have to bear the burden,” he said.

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $4.79/week.

Subscribe Today