Exercise familiarizes FirstEnergy employees
with storm roles and processes
READING,
Pa., May 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- FirstEnergy
Pennsylvania Electric Company (FE
PA), a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) doing
business in eastern Pennsylvania
as Met-Ed, recently completed an 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 for storm restoration duties and review restoration
processes and storm-management tools critical to safely and quickly
getting the lights back on.
Scott Wyman, President of
FirstEnergy's Pennsylvania Operations: "Storm drills provide
our employees a controlled, no-fault forum to practice and sharpen
their skills in preparation for severe weather, including summer
thunderstorms packing strong wind gusts. 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 primary scenario focused on severe weather with
organized lines of powerful June thunderstorms capable of producing
gusts of greater than 70 mph sweeping across Pennsylvania and New
Jersey. The gusts toppled trees, causing widespread damage
to poles and wires and disrupting electric service to more than
400,000 of Met-Ed's 592,000 customers.
Further complicating the weather drill was a hypothetical second
issue that involved significant damage to two electric substations,
communications lines and equipment. Drill participants had to
quickly puzzle through the safe and efficient restoration of power
to customers in the wake of the storm knowing the substations would
not be available.
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
proven 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 the customers.
For more information about FirstEnergy's storm restoration
process and tips for staying safe, visit the 24/7 Power Center at
firstenergycorp.com/outages.
Met-Ed serves approximately 592,000 customers within 3,300
square miles of eastern and southeastern Pennsylvania. Follow Met-Ed on X, formerly
known as Twitter, @Met Ed and on Facebook at
facebook.com/MetEdElectric.
FirstEnergy is dedicated to integrity, safety, reliability and
operational excellence. Its 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. Visit FirstEnergy online at firstenergycorp.com and
follow FirstEnergy on X @FirstEnergyCorp.
Editor's Note: A photo of FirstEnergy employees
conducting a storm drill is available for download on Flickr.
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SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.