Why did First Energy send trucks to East Coast?

[Matthew Lee]

It was no secret that the Cleveland area was going to get pounded by Hurricane Sandy. Every weather forecast/prediction DAYS ahead knew that was going to happen.

So why did trucks get sent to the East Coast from Ohio? Who made that decision at First Energy?

I appreciate the fact our mayor seems to be on top of trying to get trucks here now but would love to find out what happened and why. 3.5 days + without power is definitely annoying.

And, as we know, it is NOT just Lakewood. Bay, River, Westlake, etc. First Energy needs to answer and take some responsibility.

JMHO

[Valerie Molinski]

It was no secret that the Cleveland area was going to get pounded by Hurricane Sandy. Every weather forecast/prediction DAYS ahead knew that was going to happen.

So why did trucks get sent to the East Coast from Ohio? Who made that decision at First Energy?

I appreciate the fact our mayor seems to be on top of trying to get trucks here now but would love to find out what happened and why. 3.5 days + without power is definitely annoying.

And, as we know, it is NOT just Lakewood. Bay, River, Westlake, etc. First Energy needs to answer and take some responsibility.

JMHO

honestly, I am not going to fault FE for making the decision to send 1/2 of the trucks east. I mean, they knew we would get SOME weather from the stormfronts here, but not one anticipated what we actually got.

And while I am annoyed and having issues this week with lack of power and heat, It's only been 3 days. I say ONLY. It really sucks, but I still have a home and a roof over my head and my family is intact. What some people that I know are going through in NJ and NY is giving me some perspective on this.

[Matthew Lee]

I guess I will respectfully disagree. It was a lot more than 1/2 their trucks and there were senior citizens here stuck in high rise buildings, no heat, etc.

Those trucks weren't going to do anything to save the homes of people who lost them or help bail out water.

Just me, but I think First Energy should have kept the trucks in Ohio IN Ohio to help all here before going off to NJ/NY.

[Grace O'Malley]

Down on Rosalie and Edgewater there is a Duke Energy truck doing work on the downed lines. Isn't Duke from down south - Cincinnati?

[Valerie Molinski]

Right, and FE says we should all (in this area) be back up by Sunday. That is 5-6 days. This region had only 180,000 wthout power immediately after the storm. It was over 1.1 million there right after the storm and even with the extra help, most of those people are looking at least two weeks from now for restoration of service.

They've got a lot of work ahead of them there and had they 'fixed us first,' power there could have taken even longer. I am sure those are also pretty dense areas that ALSO have elderly in high rises.

[Matthew Lee]

So it doesn't seem odd that we get trucks sent from Cincinnati AFTER we sent our trucks to NJ? Why not just send the Cincinnati ones to NJ and keep ours here?

Something is different not right, IMHO.

Again, it was no secret that Cleveland was going to get pounded. Why not send the Cincy trucks to NJ and keep ours here? Seems silly to have to bring them up from Cincy when the Cincy ones could have gone instead of ours and people in Lakewood, RR, Bay, Cleveland, etc. could have had power days sooner.

[kate e parker]

so much for "we all stick together". now it's..."oh no! how can i manage without redbox!"

at least there are places with electricity on around us that we can go to. ask the jersey folks about that.

hang in there people. generations before us made it though things like this. so can we.

[Matthew Lee]

Hmmmm....don't recall saying anything about "how can I manage without Redbox" but, ok.

I guess I'm the only one who finds it odd that FE sent trucks to NJ when we knew we were going to have issues here.

So be it.

[Valerie Molinski]

I guess I'm the only one who finds it odd that FE sent trucks to NJ when we knew we were going to have issues here.
So be it.

No, I dont. Because yes, we were going to get some weather here, but no one predicted that it was going to get as bad as it did.

And they rolled the dice and sent the closest trucks they could that they didnt think they would need. Those were out of this area. The other states they service- NJ, WV, MD, PA, VA were all areas that were really going to be affected, so the NEO trucks were next in line and I am sure they figured that half the fleet would be sufficient to service us. And that is why now we have Duke Energy trucks from Cincinnati.

Maybe they made a mistake. But, dang, it's three days out and already the conspiracy theories and fingerpointing has begun when maybe the energy we use kvetching about FE on the internet could be better used helping our neighbors without power.

FE leaves a lot to be desired, I totally agree. But this isnt like the blackout from years ago... this was a weather event of a gigantic storm that no one adequately planned for. All of us, not just FE.

[Matthew Lee]

When John Kasich and Dennis Kucinich can agree on something, you know the world is close to ending. Both agree that FE did a horrible job in the Cleveland area:

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ss ... ncart_2box

U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich said in a statement today that sending workers to the East Coast was irresponsible and short-sighted. He said it is the reason repairs are taking so long in Ohio.

"FirstEnergy's failure is frustrating on multiple levels, and it raises serious questions about management of this Fortune 500 corporation," Kucinich said. "With every merger and every expansion, FirstEnergy cuts staff to increase profits. They have cut so deeply, they are unable to respond to an emergency, leaving consumers to pay the price."

http://fox8.com/2012/10/30/communities- ... orms-wake/

“We’ve got to take care of Ohio before we go and do something, in terms of getting the power on somewhere else,” Kasich said.

Not an internet conspiracy just an opinion. And just because I think they could have done a better job in Ohio does NOT mean NJ shouldn't have help. It's not one or the other.

[Megan Krewson]

I'm one of the lucky ones who didn't lose power, but I know many friends and family who are still without and are facing estimates of Monday evening before it goes back on. I know New Jersey was hit the worst, but it's interesting that Manhattan is expected to be restored by Friday or Saturday and that their power company is distributing wet and dry ice to help out its customers.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/10/31/ ... -saturday/

[Chris Perry]

Ever since the 1980’s wave of energy deregulation swept over the county with a flood of mergers and acquisitions - ominous overtones seem to grow increasingly problematic in the event of any natural disaster.

This is what happens when we live at the mercy of large corporations whose only economic interest in our community is what shows up on a financial spreadsheet. With a loss of local control, decisions are based more on what appeases shareholders, rather than on a shared history of growth in our community.

Your City Public Works crews starting cleaning up storm debris before sunrise on Tuesday morning. As of Thursday afternoon at 3:45 pm, City of Lakewood, Division of Refuse and Recycling crews have collected 145 tons of storm debris throughout the city.

Needless to say, I have been impressed with their effort and more importantly, their resolve to clean-up our city in the aftermath of this storm.

Given the severity of this storm, we have temporarily set aside most of the yard waste rules and regulations as part of the storm clean-up effort. We will take whatever our residents can manage to get out on the tree lawn – do not tie or bundle anything – just get it out there and we will collect it.