Erie, Pa.-based Penelec said Monday it had finished its annual emergency preparation drill to test its storm restoration process during a tabletop drill
The company said employee participated in the drill to prepare for severe weather outages both remotely and in-person at Penelec’s Clearfield facility. The drill was designed to get employees assigned to storm restoration duties ready for possible severe weather outages while reviewing restoration processes and storm-management tools.
“Storm drills provide our employees a controlled forum to practice and sharpen their skills in preparation for severe weather, including thunderstorms packing gusty winds in the summer and snow and ice events in the winter,” said Scott Wyman, president of FirstEnergy’s Pennsylvania operations. “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 scenario focused on “Winter Storm April” – a storm packing 2 feet of snow in several of the company’s service territory over two days with wind gusts exceeding 50 miles per hour. The drill’s storm toppled trees and damaged power lines, knocking out power to more than 75 percent of the company’s customers. As part of the exercise, snowplows could not keep up with the accumulating snow leaving roads impassable and slowing damage assessments and repair efforts.
The training saw employees activate the company’s Incident Command System, and in the aftermath saw crews follow a formal restoration process to address outages that restore power to the largest number of customers before moving to more isolated areas. The drill also prioritized hospitals, and other critical facilities, before moving on to other customers.