White Plains CitizeNetReporter - Electricity Outage Report System Flawed. Lessons Learned from Southend Power Out

WPCNR SERGEANT JOE FRIDAY REPORTS. By John F. Bailey. February 22, 2003: There was an electrical failure at WPCNR in Havilands Manor at around 5:30 AM Saturday, the block was out and the electricity is on now. Here is what this no electricity situation showed about the circumstances around an electrical power failure that raise interesting questions:

This reporter notified the White Plains Police of the power failure and learned from the Desk Officer on duty that “Con Ed was working on it.” I also noted from the phone book that the 1-800-75-CON ED help number which is the way you notify Con Edison of a power failure.

However, what is interesting and cause for concern for this reporter is that when you call the police to report a power failure in White Plains, that is what the police do: The police call the automated 1-800-75-CON ED line, too, when you report a power failure to them.

The inadequacy of this system is that we had a momentary surge of power after about an hour an a half, and the juice then went off again. I called the police to note that though we had gotten a momentary “juicing,” that it was still off, and suggested they note to Con Ed that the block was still out, just in case they thought their crews had fixed it.

The desk officer at WPPD said he had no way of telling Con Edison that, because the 1-800-75-CON ED is what the police use to call Con Ed. I remarked, “Is that the truth?”

This raised some questions as to what happens in a widespread power failure. When you have a weather event, it is understandable what is causing an electric outage. But on a normal day, and the power goes on an entire block, you have to inform the police so when you call in you can be assured, “just a routine outage, Con Ed is working on it.” The police cannot do that if they just have automated contact with Con Edision as the electrical customer does.

Recipe for Panic

How Con Ed keeps track of outages, and how citizens are kept informed to prevent undo worry and alarm in this nervous age is a sensitive issue. If the police can’t contact Con Ed directly, and the ordinary citizen cannot, that’s another example of how poor communication is when systems break down in Westchester County.

If a cynical, intrepid fearless reporter can get a little concerned, I would say if what happened this morning a power failure for no apparent weather related or accident related reason), happened to a lot of people all at once there would be considerable panicky behavior developing.

Lesson Learned from a Simple Power Failure.

I instantly contacted The Bailey Associates to do a $1,000,000 survey of my home’s emergency preparedess plan, and this is what they found based on this simple power failure, and here are my recommendations to homeowners:

You need a cellphone fully charged to be able to report the outage. Your telephone will not work in an electrical failure.

You need flashlights ready to go where you can find them (I had those).

You need firewood (furnace does not work in an electrical failure), if temperature is below 50 degrees.

You need a lot of matches where you can find them.

You need candles set up around the house ready to light around the home or apartment. (Put candles in those manoras!)

You need to be able to light your gas stove with a match.

The food problem.

You need lots of dry food in the house. You need extra pet food. What do you feed your pet? when you run out of a week's supply of cat food, for example...(the 21st century house cat is not equipped to hunt. In a prolonged power outage, your food will spoil in the refrigerator.

Tips from a Reporter in the Dark

Some suggestions...have a candalabra in each room or little candleholders set to go...with matches nearby this way you can light rooms without using up flashlight batteries when power is gone.

Lay in a store of spring water in bottles. Lay in a huge store of D batteries, C batteries.

this is key...a portable, battery-operated radio...with batteries in it with lots of backup batteries. However, in a testimony to the ineptitude of radio broadcast news, there was no mention of this minor power failure on Newsradio88, and the local radio stations, WFAS and WVOX do not appear to have a live newsperson on duty at 6 AM Saturday morning.

All-News, All-Speculation

However, what you hear on the radio may not be too useful in determining what is really going on. The reporting of the barge fire in Staten Island by the radio media was really poor. It was not until reading news accounts this morning that it was learned by me that it was a gasoline barge that exploded. This would have immediately clarified the nature of the explosion for listeners if this specific information had been released. Gas is instantly flammable, and mentally we could have realized this was probably not a missile attack or sabotage situation.

The report I heard on WINS described this as a refinery fire, an oil fire, which was totally wrong. It was a gasoline barge fire. Specifics count. Broadcast news reports of unfolding events is simply terribly reported, so the value of what you hear on your emergency portable radio and what you hear may not be useful, except for determining that the world is still out there.

Return to Normalcy Checklist

Also when electricity goes back on...it usually blows your fuses...so go down and check the fuse box and check for off-switches...(I did, found three out...and get this...they now are installing fuses without red coloring on the switch plates in the off position...so you have to look carefully to spot the fuses in the “Off Position.”

If you have been cooking, when there is a power failure, be sure to turn off your gas jets, and when electricity comes back on, make sure they are off.

Note: The White Plains Police Officer WPCNR spoke to Saturday morning wrote us today explaining how White Plains Police do indeed have direct line access to Con Ed. See his letter above, labeled "Police Comment on WPCNR Misconception"


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