Puget Sound Storm
Power Systems West Service Team takes on Puget Sound Storm
Date: Monday, November 15th, 2021
Puget Sound Storm
Puget Sound’s first storm of the season was a doozy, moving in Friday afternoon on September 17, 2021 with strong winds and record-breaking rainfall. As the storm moved through the region, the power outages started occurring.
After midnight, emergency service calls started coming into James Joyce, service manager for Power Systems West’s main call center in Boise. The calls were immediately routed to Mark Wright, Power Systems West Service Manager in the company’s Fife location south of Seattle. His service area was ground zero for the storm.
One of the first calls was from a major retailer. Their generator was operational, but the transfer switch wasn’t functioning properly. Since much of their inventory is perishable, a store can lose up to $100,000 for each hour the power is out. Mark immediately sent a technician to prevent any loss of goods and keep the store running.
AT&T and Verizon both placed service calls to Power Systems West through the night. Neither service provider was sure how long the power was going to be out, so they were taking proactive steps to make sure their broadband services remained operational.
AT&T’s top priority was its FirstNet broadband network, dedicated to prioritizing first responder communications between urban and rural areas. Their service functioning was a matter of public safety. AT&T needed redundant power for their battery back-up systems. Power Systems West technicians were sent out to deploy portable generators at AT&T cell towers to make sure the FirstNet network remained fully operational throughout the storm.
Verizon cell towers with Kohler generators onsite for backup power were all operating, but they would need to be refueled if the power remained out for a long period of time. Power Systems technicians were sent to these sites to make sure the generators had enough fuel to keep running. Forty-eight Verizon generators ran throughout the storm without a single failure.
In all, six Power Systems West technicians were dispatched to 28 service calls over a 12-hour period. Each call was successfully filled. Robert Colby, a service technician from the Portland office was even dispatched north to deliver a portable generator to an AT&T cell site.
“We are always preparing for worst case scenarios,” says Brad Lyons, President of Power Systems West. “It’s satisfying to see how our team responded during this storm. In situations like these when we are called upon to deliver on our promise of reliable backup power, it’s great to see us do just that.”
Backup power solutions are reliable if they’re maintained properly. When winter storms hit, regular maintenance and preventative maintenance agreements with a trusted partner like Power Systems West ensure that your backup power works for you when you need it most.
Power Systems West guarantees 24/7 emergency service no matter the conditions and no matter the location. Our promise is that your will receive a response to your service call within 15 minutes to diagnose your system and a trained, certified technician will be dispatched immediately.