COMANCHE CO., Okla_ Comanche County and Public Service Oklahoma have worked out a solution to the
problem that caused a four-hour power outage last Saturday.
The outage
affected both the Comanche County Courthouse and City National Bank, which is
just across the street. PSO will install a new switch that allows them to
isolate cables. The company put a temporary fix on the one that blew out last
week. The switch makes it easier for them to pinpoint a problem in the event of
a power failure and reroute power from another direction much faster. In order to do that, they'll have to shut off
power to the courthouse and City National Bank next Sunday.
PSO and the
courthouse said they've made a priority list of what issues to tackle first and
are preparing for Sunday's blackout. During that time, PSO will be working on
its end of the problem that caused the power failure. Comanche County Emergency
Management's Clint Wagstaff said the county is currently working to solve its
part of the problem: an older generator. It failed to kick in during the
outage.
"The
emergency generator was just designed to run the basement area downstairs, the
sheriff's office, the EOC," Wagstaff said. "It was not designed to run the
whole courthouse, but now we're having to back up and redesign the whole system
to make sure each office has at least one functional area to operate."
Because the
outage affected the City National Bank as well as the courthouse, courthouse
officials say they're taking extra precautions to safeguard their equipment
when PSO shuts off the power on Sunday. City National officials said they're
not doing anything differently. They've got procedures in place for these types
of situations.
Wagstaff said
another item high on the county's priority list is making sure each department
is covered in the event of a power failure.
"We need
to reroute a lot of essential power to certain areas so they can function normally
in case of prolonged power outage," Wagstaff said.
The Comanche County
Sheriff's Department will be the only department running on Sunday. Wagstaff said
they've already made plans.
"The
sheriff's office is 24/7," Wagstaff said. "We need to make sure we keep their
communication systems up and running. We've got contingency plans in place that
will go into effect before the scheduled outing on Sunday. We'll make sure it
works before PSO shuts the power off."
Wagstaff said
they will find out the costs of some of those upgrades to the system next week.
PSO will shut the power down this Sunday from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM. They said if
it rains, they will postpone the repair until the following Sunday.
