Town of West Boylston

1. Town of West Boylston
127 Hartwell Street
West Boylston, MA 01583
lgaumond@westboylston-ma.gov

2. Source: Worcester Telegram & Gazette

3. ¨ The entire town lost power during the event
¨ Most roads and streets were impassable
¨ State of Emergency declared by Town and State
¨ Extremely dangerous conditions continued for
at least three full days and in some areas of
town was much longer.

4. ¨ All of Central
Massachusetts
was impacted
Town of West Boylston 4
Source: Worcester Telegram & Gazette
West
Boylston

5. Source: HCTV

6. Not much better in West Boylston…
Town of West Boylston 6

7. Town of West Boylston 7

8. ¨ Lost all power from regional grid at midnight
Thursday
¨ Operations and office staff mobilized Thursday
night
¨ Emergency Operations Center established
¨ First mutual aid crews arrived on Friday
¨ Notification to elected officials, appointed
staff/employees and media

9. ¨ The scope of the damage was massive
¨ The entire town and every electric customer
lost power for some time
¨ Most streets had to be cleared before
restoration could commence.
¨ Governor Patrick and legislative leaders
visited the region on Monday Dec 15 (Day 4)
because of the heavy damage in the area

10. ¨ Time was of the essence
¨ It was very cold, with temperatures ranging in
the 30’s during the day and teens at night,
often even lower
¨ Two snowstorms totaling 26” during the 12
day recovery period.
¨ Holiday season was quickly approaching.

11. ¨ DPW man-hours fighting storm in first 7 days:
840 hours
¨ Sand used: 194 cubic yards
¨ Salt used: 64 cubic yards
¨ DPW Cost in first 7 days: roughly $47,000
¨ Police costs not reimbursed to the Town: nearly
$3000.
Town of West Boylston 11

12. ¨ Total FEMA submissions from Town – about
$527,000 of which we were reimbursed nearly
$400,000.
¨ Total brush costs = $418,000 of which we paid
$94,244.
¨ This was nearly a $1 million event for West
Boylston!
Town of West Boylston 12

13. ¨ Fire Dept. man-hours fighting storm: 800 hours
¨ Seven (7) days of ice storm emergency response
mode (storm related emergency calls, assist
with road clearing, cellar pumping, etc.)
¨ Example: Call volume: 75 calls for service in 5
days (50 cellars pumped, 4 fire calls, 19 EMS
calls, 2 motor vehicle accidents)
Town of West Boylston 13

14. ¨ Damage to FD vehicles from storm $3,000.00
(not covered by insurance due to deductibles)
¨ During 2008-09 Burning season issued 526
outdoor burning permits (each requiring an on-
site inspection prior to issuance). Prior year we
issued 383 outdoor burning permits
¨ Municipal Fire Alarm system: replaced over
4,000 feet of down fire alarm cable, spent over
80 man hours on repairs
Town of West Boylston 14

15. ¨ Established emergency shelter at WB Middle-High
School on December 12th, Shelter open 24 hours/
day through December 18th
¨ 18 Volunteers utilized to staff shelter, 12 National
Guardsman
¨ 190 hours of donated time to staff/manage shelter
¨ $2,633.00 in food purchased, $1,800.00 in food
donated (estimated). Total food and supplies cost/
value $4,450.00
Town of West Boylston 15

16. ¨ Significant work to be done
¡ Replaced 30 poles
¡ Replaced 8000 feet of wire
¨ Two utilities rotated their crews so we could
have 17 different people here during the storm
event

17. ¨ 7 mutual aid companies provided assistance
¡ Assistance is available under a longstanding
agreement under the New England Public Power
Association (NEPPA)

18. ¨ Many, many customers needed to have their
individual services restored
¨ Damage at the house, at street, or both
¨ Labor intensive - average restoration time
per connection was about an hour

19. ¨ Resources were in great demand as adjacent
cities and towns also required assistance
¨ Mutual aid companies and independent
contractors from across the region, some from
hundreds of miles away, were sought out and
utilized
¨ Some contractors were only available when
released by other utilities – National Grid,
NSTAR, etc.

20. ¨ Town entered into regional contract for brush
removal with DCR after the event due to the
Asian Longhorned Beetle infestation
¡ 1294 tons of brush
¡ About 1400 hangers
¡ 29 trees removed
¡ Nearly 590 hours of monitoring costs
Totaling $418,356.33 of which the Town was
responsible for over $94,000!

21. ¨ It is difficult to estimate the impact
of the ice storm had on our tree
cover in town however the Tree
Warden and I estimate the number
of trees lost in the ice storm number
in the THOUSANDS.

22. 1
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So what did we learn:
¨ West Boylston needs extensive work on its
INTERNAL communications systems
¡ Our system is BROKEN and needs to be replaced
¡ It could be very expensive
¡ We are looking at regional dispatch

23. ¨ West Boylston needs backup plans for
EXTERNAL communications
¡ Reliance on local media failed the Town in some
respects
¡ How do citizens know where to turn for
information?
¡ Sign boards needed everywhere
¡ Positive issue: people relied on our website and blog
for information
Town of West Boylston 23

24. ¨ Shelter issues
¡ Concerns about notice to public – We Have A
Shelter???
¡ Resources not readily available and not sufficient in
many ways – including volunteers and quality of
food products
¡ Need to explore regional shelter
¡ Background checks for volunteers
¡ Transportation to the shelter?
Town of West Boylston 24

25. Town of West Boylston 25
¨ Public safety HQ/EOC not adequate
¡ Building not set up for command center
¡ Not enough space
¡ Inadequate supplies
Improved plan to staff Light Office during
off-hours and insuring that the phone
system there is operational.

26. ¨ Emergency planning: Citizens had done little
planning in advance. REPC established a goal
to work on emergency kits with citizens that
we met
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27. Thank you for your attention. Are there any
questions?