Storm Drill Helps Mon Power Employees Prepare for Severe Weather Events

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Jun 10, 2024, 10:27 ET

Exercise reinforces storm roles and processes for employees

FAIRMONT, W.Va., June 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Mon Power, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE), recently completed an annual emergency preparation drill focused on testing its storm restoration process in the event severe weather causes outages throughout its service area.

Held at Mon Power's Fairmont headquarters, the drill prepared employees for storm restoration duties and reviewed the processes and tools critical to getting the lights back on as safely and quickly as possible.

Jim Myers, President of FirstEnergy's West Virginia Operations: "Storm drills provide our employees a controlled, no-fault forum to practice and sharpen their skills in preparation for severe weather. These exercises also support service reliability for our customers, in addition to tree trimming and projects that harden our electric infrastructure and enhance its resiliency."

The drill's primary scenario focused on lines of powerful June thunderstorms capable of producing gusts greater than 70 mph. The gusts toppled trees, causing widespread damage to poles and wires and disrupting electric service to more than 270,000 of Mon Power's 395,000 customers.

Further complicating the weather drill was a hypothetical second issue that involved significant damage to several electric substations three days prior to the storm, causing outages for approximately 10,000 customers. Drill participants had to work through the restoration process for that unique event while also preparing for the onset of severe weather. Mon Power drill participants broke into groups to address topics including safety, logistics, operations, and planning and analysis, among others.

As part of the training, Mon Power activated its Incident Command System (ICS). ICS is a nationally recognized and accepted emergency management process used by all levels of government as well as 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, Mon Power 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.

Mon Power serves about 395,000 customers in 34 West Virginia counties. Follow Mon Power at mon-power.com, on X, formally known as Twitter @MonPowerWV, and on Facebook at facebook.com/MonPowerWV.

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.

SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.