Re: 911:: Power Outages

January 17, 2001

In a message dated 1/17/01 8:09:17 PM Eastern Standard Time,

heimdalcmo@... writes:

<< Question. What does the power companies do for people who are some kind of

life support system, like oxygen, at home when they schedule an outage. >>

I can't vouch for all over but in our area the utility maintains a record of

these individuals (if they report it) provided that they get a doctor to sign

the appropriate paperwork. (Keeping insulin in your fridge, for example,

usually doesn't apply.) These are checked periodically for validity.

January 17, 2001

In a message dated 1/17/01 8:09:15 PM Eastern Standard Time,

heimdalcmo@... writes:

> Question. What does the power companies do for people who are some kind of

> life support system,like oxgyen, at home when they schedule an outage. I

> live

> in Virginia and have heard about the outages. I can't imagine anyone in the

> affected areas not knowing about them and calling 9-1-1. Ok, I can imagine

> it

> but people are amazing aren't they.

>

In our area the power company has no such " emergency " provisions for those on

life support systems. They do have a priority list where by folks with

special needs are at the top of the list to be restored in the event of a

power failure, but that doesn't help in case of an area wide outage. Anyone

with special medical needs will call 911 and we will send the rescue squad to

transport them to the local hospital until power is restored.

Funny you should mention this subject. Just last week we had a power outage

in a major section of our town. The power company responded immediately to

repair the transformer that exploded, but the repair took several hours. The

outage caused several traffic lights to malfunction so we had to deal with

pulling officers off the road to direct traffic, the fire department and

rescue squad for the actual transformer fire AND all the pinheads calling to

say they had no power.

Call me stupid, but in the event that I lose power I immediately make a

mental scan of my checkbook and check to see if I paid my bill. That being

done I then call the POWER COMPANY! This thought process does NOT come from

having been a dispatcher for too many years, but it comes from the common

sense I was born with. The police department in my area does NOT supply my

home with electricity, phone service, water or any other utilities. So it

seems that calling them would bring me no closer to the solution to my

problem and it would probably tie up folks that are already busy dealing with

an emergency.

If I had a dollar for every call we got wanting to know " Why don't I have

Power, or " When is the power going to be restored " ? I'd be ready for

retirement!

I don't mind taking these calls and I don't mind telling the folks what the

general problem is, but when they get testy and start firing a million

questions and then get angry because you don't have the answers I get a

little short tempered.

If I were ever granted 3 wishes, my first would be to bestow a little common

sense on every living human being. Boy would that make our jobs alot easier!

Patty

BTPD NJ

January 17, 2001

In a message dated 1/17/2001 9:02:36 PM Eastern Standard Time,

heimdalcmo@... writes:

<< What does the power companies do for people who are some kind of

life support system,like oxgyen, at home when they schedule an outage. >>

If I remember the story correctly there was an incident that occurred in a

metro Atlanta county of a person that didn't report to their utility company

that they had someone at the house on electronic medical equipment.

Something happened. I think they didn't pay their power bill or something and

their electricity was cut off and they tried to sue everyone. I believe they

got ruled against because it was their responsibility to advise the

appropriate agency's of their need. I know that if I had someone at home

that relied on electronic equipment for life, I would CERTAINLY make sure

that I took care of every possible circumstance.

As I said. thats just what I remember. If anyone out there in the metro area

remembers this feel free to chime in.

Toni Wyman, (CTO)...Gwinnett County Police, GA (just N of HotLanta)

770 Hi Hope Rd, Lawrenceville, GA 30046

(These are only my opinions, not my agency's, after all they are the

government and they have opinions of their own)

For liability reasons my posts and opinions are to be reprinted with my

permission only. ALSO any solicitation of business with my agency should

come through me if you have my name from this list. NO outside solicitors

may contact anyone other than myself.

Email to: E911GAL136@...

January 18, 2001

In a message dated 1/18/01 1:26:33 AM Eastern Standard Time, usvetX3@...

writes:

> Shame on you.{:-) (poking fun) Just think of that poor person

>

Cute Vern!!

Actually in our area the only time you will get a " live " person on the phone

is if your electrical outage is an isolated one. In the event of area wide

outages you will get a recording telling you, " We are aware of outages in

such and such areas, if you are not in one of these areas and are still

without power call " this " number. " And of course it goes without saying that

if I look out my window and the whole neighborhood is dark I don't bother to

call anyone except the neighbors and invite them over for a mean came of

Poker by candlelight!!

Patty

BTPD NJ

January 18, 2001

>To: 911consoleegroups

>From: heimdalcmo@...

>Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2001 19:38:57 EST

>Reply-To: 911consoleegroups

>Subject: 911:: Power Outages

>

>Question. What does the power companies do for people who are some kind of

>life support system,like oxgyen, at home when they schedule an outage. I live

>in Virginia and have heard about the outages. I can't imagine anyone in the

>affected areas not knowing about them and calling 9-1-1. Ok, I can imagine it

>but people are amazing aren't they.

>Tammy

>

In my case, the borough owns the power utility that serves our residents and

businesses plus those in 4 adjoining municipalities. The same 911 operator and

public safety dispatcher handles the calls for the electric department. We

keep a list of those on life support and they get priority for restoration. We

do strongly suggest that life support systems be equipped with a battery back up

and most do come with batteries that are good for several hours. However, if

needed we will send a fire department silent alarm (one truck) with a generator

or we'll send the first aid squad if oxygen is needed immediately. And yes, we

do advise the callers to use 911 if our other lines (police and

electric/water/dpw) are busy.

Rich Dean

Rich Dean, NJ USA .. secondary email addresses are rldean@...,

deanr@... .. HS Class of 1970, Vol Firefighter since 1973,

Telecommunciator/Dispatch since 1975, Railfan since birth in 1952.. Founder of

Egroups.com groups for NJArea, Fire-Police, NJ_Area_Railpics,

NorthAmericanParades and NorthJerseyVolFire.. Member of many more online groups

such as nysw@..., nyswegroups, tiersightings@egroups,

Fire-L@topica, Firepics@egroups, 911dispatcher@egroups

------------------------------------------------------------

--== Sent via Deja.com ==--

http://www.deja.com/

January 18, 2001