Emergency response personnel and elected officials from around Blaine County crammed into the Sun Valley Fire Department's Elkhorn station Thursday, Jan. 14, to review the Christmas power outage and discuss potential improvements during similar incidents.
The meeting was run by Chuck Turner, the Blaine County disaster services coordinator, who billed the meeting as an "after-action review" at which emergency responders gather to discuss the incident, the steps that were taken and methods for improving their response.
The outage began Christmas Eve and lasted well into the following day for many Wood River Valley residents. Nearly 20,000 Idaho Power Co. customers in the region were affected.
While emergency responders could not have done anything to prevent the blackout, caused by extreme weather and ice buildup on the transmission lines running into the valley, they discussed issues experienced during the event and possible solutions.
Communications, both between emergency personnel and the public, seemed to be the greatest concern for the fire and police departments, elected officials, dispatch personnel and agency representatives.
Problems resulting from the power outage ranged from decreased radio communications, as some of the transmitters on top of Dollar Mountain began to run out of power, to a dispatch center inundated with non-emergency calls.
Beth English, director of Blaine County Emergency Communications, said that on Dec. 25 the dispatch center was receiving calls from people with questions about their food spoiling or when power would be restored.
By mid morning, many of the calls were channeled to the emergency operations center established at the Blaine County Public Safety Facility in Hailey. Blaine County Sheriff Walt Femling said that once officials realized early Friday morning that the power outage would last until later in the day, he designated a room at the facility as the center, which was manned by officials and personnel from around the county.
Also generating a high number of calls was the activation of the Swiftreach program, which sends out automated messages to residents that have registered on the county's Web site. According to Femling, the program dialed about 20,000 numbers, with 6,000 to 8,000 calls actually going through.
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Femling said many people didn't receive the message because they use phones that require electricity to operate, as opposed to older phones that draw power through the phone line itself or because cell phone service was also interrupted for many people during the incident.
Blaine County Commission Chair Larry Schoen suggested that cell service providers should be contacted and encouraged to install backup generators at cell towers around the valley to help maintain service in case of a similar event.
On the issue of generators, Turner said the blackout helped organizations identify any problems with their connections, such as making sure phones are connected to the alternative power source.
At a Blaine County Commission meeting Tuesday, Turner said he is working on a draft plan that would thoroughly outline the response procedures during a future power outage. He said a draft of his plan could be finished by the end of the month.
Schoen asked that this plan contain a set of criteria to determine the point at which an emergency should be declared and more drastic response measures put into place.
However, in an interview Monday, Turner said one of the most important lessons from the event is one that needs to be heeded by the general public.
"People have to be prepared for any type of emergency," he said.
Turner said that includes having enough food and supplies to last several days.
Jon Duval: jduval@mtexpress.com
