Exercise familiarizes FirstEnergy employees
with storm roles and processes
GREENSBURG, Pa., June 5, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- FirstEnergy Pennsylvania Electric Company
(FE PA), a subsidiary of FirstEnergy
Corp. (NYSE: FE) doing business in western and central Pennsylvania as West Penn Power and Penn
Power, recently completed a combined emergency preparation drill
focused on testing its storm restoration process in the event
severe weather causes outages throughout its vast and heavily
forested service area.
Individuals participated in the annual storm drill both remotely
and in person at West Penn Power's Greensburg headquarters – a hybrid approach
similar to how employees conduct real-life restoration activities
using electronic storm tools to manage work in the field. The drill
was designed to prepare employees for storm restoration duties and
review restoration processes and storm-management tools critical to
safely and quickly getting the lights back on.
John Hawkins, President of
FirstEnergy's Pennsylvania Operations: "Storm drills provide
our employees a controlled, no-fault forum to practice and sharpen
their skills in preparation for severe weather, including summer
thunderstorms packing strong wind gusts. Regular emergency drills
are another way we work to improve electric service for our
customers, in addition to tree trimming and projects we do to
harden our electric infrastructure and enhance its resiliency."
The drill's primary scenario focused on severe weather
with organized lines of powerful June thunderstorms capable of
producing gusts of greater than 70 mph sweeping across Pennsylvania. The gusts toppled trees, causing
widespread damage to poles and wires and disrupting electric
service to more than 425,000 of West Penn Power's 746,000 customers
and more than 100,000 of Penn Power's 173,000 customers.
Further complicating the weather drill was a hypothetical second
issue that involved significant damage to batteries, battery
chargers and other equipment at two electric substations. Drill
participants had to quickly puzzle through the safe and efficient
restoration of power to customers in the wake of the storm knowing
the substations would not be available.
As part of the training, West Penn Power and Penn Power
activated their Incident Command System (ICS). ICS is a nationally
recognized and accepted emergency management process used by all
levels of government – federal, state and local – as well as by
many non-governmental organizations and the private sector to
coordinate the response to major storms or other natural
disasters.
In the aftermath of a major weather event, West Penn Power and
Penn Power crews follow a proven restoration process and typically
address outages that restore the largest number of customers before
moving to more isolated problems. They generally give priority to
hospitals and other critical medical facilities, communications
facilities and emergency response agencies. After that, crews work
to restore power as quickly as possible to the rest of the
customers.
For more information about FirstEnergy's storm restoration
process and tips for staying safe, visit the 24/7 Power Center at
firstenergycorp.com/outages.
Penn Power serves approximately 173,000 customers in all or
parts of Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Crawford, Lawrence and Mercer counties in western Pennsylvania. Follow Penn Power on X, formerly
known as Twitter, @Penn_Power, on Facebook at
facebook.com/PennPower, and online at pennpower.com.
West Penn Power serves approximately 746,000 customers in 24
counties within central and southwestern Pennsylvania. Follow West Penn on X
@W_Penn_Power and on Facebook at
facebook.com/WestPennPower.
FirstEnergy is dedicated to integrity, safety, reliability and
operational excellence. Its electric distribution companies form
one of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems,
serving customers in Ohio,
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West
Virginia, Maryland and
New York. The company's
transmission subsidiaries operate approximately 24,000 miles of
transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic
regions. Visit FirstEnergy online at firstenergycorp.com and
follow FirstEnergy on X @FirstEnergyCorp.
Editor's Note: A photo of FirstEnergy employees
conducting a storm drill is available for download on Flickr.
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SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.