COMANCHE CO., Okla_ The combination
of today's high winds and some unstable safety equipment are to blame for power
outages in Lawton.
They even temporarily interrupted Comanche
County's 9-1-1 system.
The Public Service
Company of Oklahoma
said a lightning arrester, which is designed to take the heat if lightning
strikes and protect the equipment that the lines are connected to, was shaken
loose by the high winds. They said it became so loose that it caused a power
failure to 177 customers.
The system was
down for between five and 15 minutes. The power shut down around 9:00 AM, but
the generator failed to kick in. Then, another backup source kicked in and
powered the center for about 45 minutes. When that ran out, the center then
connected with other agencies to keep things running.
As crews worked
on repairing the center's backup generator, emergency management officials gathered
inside coming up with "backups" to their backup plans.
"You hope
for the best, and you plan for the worst," Comanche County 911 Director Derrell
Morgan said. "With it in mind that we may not be able to get the system online
as quickly as we did, we started putting alternate numbers out there to be able
to communicate with the emergency operations center and some of the other
agencies."
Morgan said
when the power first went out, he knew they had a generator that is tested each
week. Then, the generator failed. Then, this UPS, or uninterrupted power supply,
provided about 45 minutes' worth of power to the system. Then, the UPS's power
went out. That's when officials starting gathering resources to keep the system
running.
"With Fort Sill,
we asked that their front desk go ahead and monitor their guys out in the field,"
Morgan said. "If we had anything for them with our 911 system, we would give
that to them, and they would communicate that and monitor their units. The
sheriff's office was monitoring the county radios."
Morgan said of
all the agencies, the fire departments were affected the most. Interim Lawton Fire Chief Dewayne Burk said Wednesday's
outage caused a delay in their time-sensitive system.
"It also
affected the console system which allows the alarms to be transmitted to the
fire stations," Burk said. "So, we had to go to a backup system and basically
just do it through hand-held radios."
Morgan said he
is proud of the way his crew handled today's interruption. He said these types
of ordeals are unforeseen, so they have to be prepared.
"When a
generator comes on, it's generally related to an electrical issue with the
system," Morgan said. "When the system goes out, a transformer blows out, and
it can cause an electrical surge. You never can be 100% sure. That's why we
have backups for backups for backups."
Public Service Oklahoma
said the lightning arrester that caused the power failure has been fixed. They also
said the power failure is a good test for the county. Now, they can make sure
their equipment is working in the event of a disaster.
Morgan said
today's situation also brings to light a lesson for the community when it comes
to seeking help in the event of an emergency.
"If the 911
center is down and we have to go to regular numbers for the police department
or the fire department or emergency management, that means that the public has
to be ready and pay attention," Morgan said. "So, they can know what those
numbers are."
He said having those other numbers handy, or loaded into your phone,
should be an important part of your safety plan.
