West Penn Power Conducts Annual Storm Restoration Drill to Help Employees Prepare for Severe Weather Events

2023 tabletop drill familiarizes employees with storm roles and processes

GREENSBURG, Pa., June 27, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- West Penn Power, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE), recently completed its 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 West Penn Power's Greensburg 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 assigned to storm restoration duties and review restoration processes and storm-management tools critical to safely and quickly getting the lights back on.

"Storm drills provide our employees a controlled forum to practice and sharpen their skills in preparation for severe weather, such as thunderstorms packing gusty winds in the summer and snow and ice events in the winter," said Scott Wyman, president of FirstEnergy's Pennsylvania operations. "Regular emergency drills are another way we work to improve electric service for our customers in addition to tree trimming and the projects we do to harden our electric infrastructure and enhance its resiliency."

The drill's hypothetical scenario focused on "Winter Storm April," a potent system that swept into western and central Pennsylvania from the southwest on a Friday in mid-December, dropping between 9 and 40-plus inches of snow over 48 hours. Snowfall deepened as the storm moved east across the service area with wind gusts exceeding 50 miles per hour.

Eerily similar to a trio of major storms that disrupted power to nearly 200,000 West Penn Power customers this past winter and spring, the drill featured severe weather that toppled trees and damaged power lines, knocking out electricity to 90% of customers. In the exercise, plows could not keep pace with the accumulating snow, leaving numerous roads impassable and slowing crews in their efforts to access damage and make repairs.

As part of the training, West Penn Power 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, West Penn Power crews follow a formal 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 customers.

For more information about FirstEnergy's storm restoration process and tips for staying safe, visit the 24/7 Power Center at www.firstenergycorp.com/outages.

West Penn Power serves approximately 737,000 customers in 24 counties within central and southwestern Pennsylvania. Follow West Penn Power on Twitter @W_Penn_Power and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/WestPennPower.

FirstEnergy is dedicated to integrity, safety, reliability and operational excellence. Its 10 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. Follow FirstEnergy on Twitter @FirstEnergyCorp or online at www.firstenergycorp.com.

SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.