Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Nextel System Fails Again During Black Out In Massachusetts

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 04 Dec 2003 23:24:23 -0500

Nextel System Fails Again During Black Out In Massachusetts
Power outage leaves 300,000 in the dark

By The Register staff
Thursday, December 4, 2003

A faulty transmission line and a fire at Mirant's electric plant alongside the
Cape Cod Canal in Sandwich may have combined to cause a power blackout that
affected more than 300,000 NStar customers Monday night.

Homes and businesses were in darkness for more than an hour and commuters on
their way home found slow going on darkened streets. The blackout hit at
approximately 6:20 p.m. and was preceded by a five-minute brownout.
Throughout the blackout, the Dennis Police Department stayed in communication.

"The back-up generator kicked in right away at the police department," said
acting Police Chief William Monahan. "We brought in extra personnel to handle
any problems that could have arisen. Fortunately, there were no emergencies."
Monahan said 36 calls came in during the approximately 75-minute power outage,
all over the emergency 911 line. "People who didn't have battery-operated radios
called to find out what was happening. It's important to keep that line free for
real emergencies. We recommend that people keep a transistor radio in their
homes to acquire information during any emergency."
When the power returned at 7:30 p.m., many security alarms went off, Monahan
said. "We don't hold these false alarms against people's accounts when they
happen under these circumstances. There's a code we punch in when this happens
to keep them from being charged, as is the case with carelessness. What I'm most
concerned about during incidents such as this is accidents from people driving
through traffic lights when they're out and getting hurt. But no traffic
accidents were reported Monday night."

The Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School Committee meeting at the Station Avenue
School in South Yarmouth was called off due to the power outage.

In Hyannis, Barnstable Municipal Airport was closed after generators failed to
operate properly, leaving runway lights off and the terminal building dark.

Yarmouth experienced no major problems, but town officials had difficulty
communicating with one another when Nextel cell phones with a two-way radio
feature failed to operate as expected.

Yarmouth Town Administrator Robert Lawton said he asked for an explanation from
Nextel.

"I'd rather have it happen during a short-term outage like this than in the
middle of a hurricane," Lawton said.

Police Chief Peter Carnes said service over the Nextel system was "intermittent
at best," and that concerned him. "Nextel has become a vital tool, we use it for
day-to-day communications, for investigations."

The outage did not affect normal police or fire department radio communications
or the 911 system, Carnes said.

During the fatal air crash that occurred in August off Great Island, more than
80 percent of public safety communication was via Nextel two-way, he said.
Carnes said that he didn't have any answers from Nextel yet either, but assumed
the problem was an overload of the system as public safety agencies and the
general public all tried to use it at once to figure out what was going on.
Similar problems were experienced during a localized morning power outage in the
southern part of Yarmouth recently, according to Carnes.

Source of problem hard to find

Michael Durand, spokesman for NStar, said part of the problem was in a
transmission line that extended from Walpole to Carver. NStar crews are still
investigating, he said. Durand said the power outage extended from Marshfield to
Provincetown, including Plymouth, Carver and New Bedford, and the entire Cape.
Earlier in the day, the National Grid Company that provides power to Nantucket,
reported a transmission problem on the island, Durand said.

"It will probably be a week before we have all the answers," Durand said. "Early
indicators are that the fire at the plant and the transmission line going out of
service combined to cause the blackout," he said..

Mirant spokesman Lou Friscoe said a small night shift with about six employees
was working at the plant when the fire broke out. Plant manager Parker Koopman
was on the scene and employees used fire extinguishers to contain the blaze
until fire trucks arrived, Friscoe said.

"It was an oil fire on a burner front. A piece of equipment leaked oil onto one
of the steam lines," Friscoe said. "It was a minor fire. There were no
injuries."

Sandwich Fire Department investigator George Russell said employees smelled the
fire before they saw it.

"When oil smoke hits the air and vaporizes the smell is something you can't
ignore. In a power plant, that's not a good thing," he said.

Russell said there is nothing to indicate the fire was of suspicious origin. Oil
backed out of a spot where rods feed into a burner and dripped onto a hot
surface, he said. The fire itself was only two feet in diameter, but there was a
lot of black smoke, he said.

http://www.townonline.com/barnstable/news/local_regional/reg_newtrblackout12042003.htm

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark
Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada.
http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511
http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/61FxlB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/