Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - "We're just going to prepare for the worst and hope for the best," says Dave Bertola from National Grid.
Utility companies like National Grid and Verizon are prepped and ready for the upcoming winter wind and snow storms not just happening in Western New York, but nationally. Proper staffing, weather monitoring and functioning equipment being the top checks for the companies and their protocols to prepare for potential outages.
Bob Hamilton from the National Weather Service told WBEN Wednesday afternoon that his main concern with this weather is the potential power outages, "The thing that really scares us at work are these power outages because you're not looking at just winds of 60 [mph] plus, you're going to have winds close to 70, if not 75 [mph] and again, the biggest time for that would be Friday night, early Saturday."
"I'm sure you've seen the utility trucks, they're right there on the corner of the airport and hotels. They fill those hotels up those utility trucks, so it would be a good sign if tomorrow or Friday, you saw those trucks in there, but I got the feeling there's not going to be a lot of reinforcements coming in here. So the worst case scenario pans out and we see winds of 70+ mph, you're going to have people without power for days. With temperatures below 20, it's a real scary situation," Hamilton added.
Bertola from National Grid says the contractors are ready for backup,
"National Grid drills for this type of event. We prepare for it year-round. We've been looking at this weather event since last week and we're prepared to bring in contractors from out of state, which will be arriving by tomorrow [12/22/2022], that number will be in the thousands. We will have them staged with our equipment across Western New York."
As mentioned, this event is not just restrained to the Western New York area, "This event isn't just relegated to where we live. It's across the state, across the Northeast, and more. So National Grid is preparing for this not just in Western New York, but also in Central New York, Eastern New York, Massachusetts, etc. We're ready, this is what we do," says Bertola.
There's a few certain things National Grid keeps their eye on when in comes to extreme winter weather conditions, "Wind and ice are the two major factors that can lead to widespread power outages. So what happens is, things that are near our equipment, powerlines, etc... when trees get ice forming on them, plus the combination of wind speeds that can exceed 60 miles an hour, that really could create a dangerous mix for us as that's what causes tree branches to fall into the power line that hits a transmission line. That could lead to thousands of people out without power but in the end, we all we're all ready for it."
Bertola says staffing isn't an issue, "We all have storm roles and regardless of the severity of the storm or the time of year, we're all expected to spring into action and show up for work every day. That's where we are first responders in that regard and our job is to make sure that we could turn the power back on in a safe way in a timely way."
Verizon is also ready with their team on call to make sure you always have a network connection.
"In many ways, it's making sure that we're staying one step ahead here," says Andy Choi, a representative with Verizon. "Our engineers are monitoring storms like these through our virtual command center and depending on what's needed, we will dispatch field teams to respond to areas that may be hit some of our facilities that rely on commercial power. We always make sure that in the Buffalo area, we have sites that have a battery backup. So once batteries are depleted and power isn't restored, that's when generators will kick in and all our major macro sites have generators fully fueled, ready to go. These are a macro sites are major areas where you're going to get a lot of network activity."
Choi also mentions that Buffalo didn't have a single outage during the the last winter storm, "We're looking to make sure that sites are looked at at all times and that networks stay strong and we can keep a Buffalo connected."
Verizon and National Grid are reminding the community to make sure that they charge their phones in advance when the storm hits on Friday. Make sure you have flashlights at the ready and proper batteries and backups for everything so that you can recharge without having to use a wall outlet and make sure you give their teams adequate time to work, they are looking to get everything fixed as quickly as they can for so that you can restore power to you home and devices so you can continue to brave and monitor the elements of the storm.
"Make sure that your generator is not in a basement or in a garage to avoid the buildup of deadly carbon monoxide and lastly, if you are out and you see a downed power line, just keep away from it, always assume that they're alive. The ground can be electrified. Iif you see a tree that's down, there might be a power line down and tangled in it, keep away from it, too, unless you're 100% sure," Begola adds.
