If the unthinkable happens and Mother Nature churns up a windstorm as severe as the one on September 14, 2008, the big question is whether the emergency response will be better.
The remnants of Hurricane Ike collided with a cold front over the Tri-State to produce extremely strong winds and knock power out to more than one million Duke Energy customers.
Duke Energy's Kathy Meinke confidently says, "I think definitely much more prepared."
"I think we're better prepared in a lot of ways," says Chief BJ Jetter of the Sycamore Township Fire Department, speaking as president of the Hamilton County Fire Chiefs Association.
Officials from Duke Energy and Tri-State responders have spent the past year studying how the windstorm was handled and using lessons learned from that experience to improve their emergency plans.
The utility began implementing a series of changes during the winter, including:
- Improving communication with emergency management agencies, government officials and the general public. The goal is to let everyone know more precisely when power will be back on.
- Placing a company official at the Hamilton County Emergency Management Center during mass power outages.
- Upgrading the web site to indicate estimated times of service restoration.
- Using new technology such as Twitter, Blackberry devices and iPhones to keep in touch with customers.
- Creating more staging areas for repair crews, so that they can respond to trouble reports more easily. There were only two during last year’s windstorm.
- Converting the analog electric distribution system into digital in the next five years with "Smart Grid" technology to bring the system into the 21st Century.
Duke's Meinke says the system involves "Smart Meters" and "Intelligent Switches" to communicate with equipment along the distribution system and at the homes of customers.
Over 50,000 "Smart Meters" have been installed in Ohio – mostly in Hamilton County, however, 150,000 more units will be in place by the end of 2009.
In addition, 100,000 communication devices will be installed on the gas meters of customers.
Duke Energy has not yet applied to begin adding "Smart Grid" technology in Kentucky.
Right now, Duke employees can pinpoint the big outages via computers at their Downtown headquarters.
However, there's no way to determine if individual customers are without power unless they call the company.
"When 'Smart Meters' are installed, we'll be able to ‘ping’ those meters and find out in a more timely whether that service is out," Meinke explained at the Envision Center in Erlanger, where the concept is being developed.
Should a storm knock out power to areas where "Smart Grid" technology is being used, the "Intelligent Switches" immediately reroute electricity to the majority of the affected area.
Officials in the electric control center will immediately notice what's occurred.
”What this enhances is the timelines," Meinke added.
In small outage situations, the bulk of the repair crew time is spent determining exactly where the trouble has occurred. "Smart Grid" shortens that time span.
Chief Jetter says much of the work among Hamilton County fire chiefs has been with the Communications Center to upgrade the quality of information sent to crews on mobile data computers.
"The responding units that are being dispatched can then make a determination if one or multiple pieces of equipment need to be sent to a scene," Chief Jetter said. That will allow for more efficient use of resources.”
One of the big problems uncovered in 2008 was taking care of senior citizens or those at home with medical needs who lost power. Chief Jetter said a lot of time was spent in that area.
"They are basically special needs people," he said. "They're on file with the fire department and the police department. Therefore, in case of a power outage, those folks can be at least addressed and see what their needs are or get them to a place where they can be better served."
In addition, many communities are using their municipal web sites to disseminate information to citizens. Maps of Duke Energy's distribution system have been shared with Hamilton County fire chiefs.
