METRO DETROIT (WWJ) - DTE Energy's hopes for Friday look bright as they continue work to restore power to hundreds of thousands of Metro Detroiters left in the dark after a major ice storm and high winds crippled the area over the last two days.
In a 7 a.m. update about the company's plan to tackle outages, DTE president and COO Trevor Lauer said in a conference call that they have deployed over 4,000 crews to the field in the first full day of restoration efforts to get the power back up and running for the 461,376 customers still affected by outages.
"The ice melted yesterday broadly across the service territory about 3:00 p.m., but as it was melting, our crews did a good job restoring 150,000 to 160,000 customers yesterday," Lauer said. "Our focus yesterday on the first day of this ice storm was public protection and making sure that nobody was injured, with the wires that came down on the heavy ice and with the trees falling down across the service territory."
As Friday dawns, DTE expects to assign 200,000 customers to crews when utility workers begin their shifts at 7:30 a.m.
Lauer said multiple crews are still working on securing downed power lines, which takes away from restoration efforts, but the president reiterated the importance of making sure residents and first responders stay safe.
"We are addressing [wire downs] as quickly as we can, but please be careful," Lauer continued. "If you see any wire down, contact DTE, contact your fire department, contact your police department and stay at least 25 feet away."
Downed power lines can be touching an object, such as a fence, that could energize it and cause serious or fatal situations if touched. Hanging or fallen wires also have the ability to look like a stick or debris on the ground, Lauer warned, and asked residents to refrain from cleaning up their yards and picking up branches until crews are able to assess the scene.
Lauer said the company expects to made good progress today and has brought in additional, out-of-state crews to help the restoration process.
"So hoping for a good day today," Lauer said. "I want to make a big knock in this storm and get a big chunk of the customers back."
DTE expects to have 95% of customers restored by Sunday, Feb. 26 as crews assess and fix the damage heavy ice caused to equipment, power lines and utility poles. Lauer said areas in Washtenaw and Livingston County were hit particularly hard and may take longer to restore as ice accumulations measured over half an inch.
Thursday's high winds, with gusts in the 40s, did not help efforts.
"We had about another 100,000 customers lose power yesterday while the ice remained on the trees and the infrastructure," Lauer said. "We're going to do everything possible to get to that 95% number by Sunday. We continue to bring in additional resources and as we get into the field today, we're gonna continue to work on understanding just how much damage exists in the infrastructure out in the field."
DTE said they prioritize who gets power back up first in a list that includes hospitals, police and fire departments, warming centers and citizens that may be on life critical oxygen and other medical needs that rely on power.
"If there's any type of nursing home or critical care facility, we'll focus on those types of facilities," Lauer added. "Then the next prioritization that we're using in this storm is the largest outages first... In some cases when you have wide scale outages like this, you try to align largest outages first so that you can systematically work the number of customers down as quickly as you can."
The president said schools are a little lower on the list, but crews will begin working on getting power restored on Saturday and Sunday so students and staff can return to class by Monday.
Lauer said line workers have been working tirelessly to assess equipment issues, working through ice and dangerous conditions. Some utility workers even have to deal with an agitated public or upset homeowners that will direct their anger over the outage toward crews that are out in the field.
While he understand the frustration, Lauer stated they've specifically asked crews to work as safely as possible and to take their time.
"Slow is smooth and smooth is fast, right?" Lauer said. "Moving slow sometimes makes you more productive because you're doing things in a very safe manner and that's most important as we go through a restoration activity like this."
As temperatures dipped into the teens Friday morning, many residents were quick to start up home generators, but Lauer said homeowners need to remain cautious when using them.
"Please make sure that you're keeping your generators outside at least 25 feet away from anywhere where the generator fumes could come inside of your home," he stated. "We're worried about carbon monoxide poisoning."
DTE has asked for anyone who notices downed powerlines to call 911 first, then call 1-800-477-4747 or go to the DTE website to report it.
Customers can check their outage status on the DTE Outage Map here.
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