2023 tabletop drill familiarizes employees
with storm roles and processes
READING,
Pa., June 27, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Met-Ed, a
subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE), recently completed
its annual emergency preparation drill focused on testing its storm
restoration process in the event severe weather causes outages
throughout its vast and heavily forested service area.
Individuals participated in the storm drill both remotely and
in-person at Met-Ed's Reading
headquarters – a hybrid approach similar to how employees conduct
real-life restoration activities using electronic storm tools to
manage work in the field. The drill was designed to prepare
employees assigned to storm restoration duties and review
restoration processes and storm-management tools critical to safely
and quickly getting the lights back on.
"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 hypothetical scenario focused on "Winter Storm April," a potent system that swept
into eastern Pennsylvania from the
southwest on a Friday in mid-December, dropping 2 to 3 feet of snow
in many areas of the service territory over two days. Widespread
wind gusts exceeded 50 miles per hour.
Similar to major storms that affected more than 80,000 Met-Ed
customers this past winter and spring, severe weather toppled trees
and damaged power lines, knocking out electricity to more than 75%
of Met-Ed's customers in the drill. In the exercise, plows could
not keep pace with the accumulating snow, leaving numerous roads
impassable and slowing crews in their efforts to access damage and
make repairs.
As part of the training, Met-Ed activated its Incident Command
System (ICS). ICS is a nationally recognized and accepted emergency
management process used by all levels of government – federal,
state and local – as well as by many non-governmental organizations
and the private sector to coordinate the response to major storms
or other natural disasters.
In the aftermath of a major weather event, Met-Ed crews follow a
formal restoration process and typically address outages that
restore the largest number of customers before moving to more
isolated problems. They generally give priority to hospitals and
other critical medical facilities, communications facilities and
emergency response agencies. After that, crews work to restore
power as quickly as possible to the rest of customers.
For more information about FirstEnergy's storm restoration
process and tips for staying safe, visit the 24/7 Power Center at
www.firstenergycorp.com/outages.
Met-Ed serves approximately 587,000 customers within 3,300
square miles of eastern and southeastern Pennsylvania. Follow Met-Ed on
Twitter @Met Ed and on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/MetEdElectric.
FirstEnergy is dedicated to integrity, safety, reliability and
operational excellence. Its 10 electric distribution companies form
one of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems,
serving customers in Ohio,
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West
Virginia, Maryland and
New York. The company's
transmission subsidiaries operate approximately 24,000 miles of
transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic
regions. Follow FirstEnergy online at
www.firstenergycorp.com and on Twitter @FirstEnergyCorp.
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SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.