Conservation efforts avert rolling outages

Many local businesses cut back on electricity Friday.
By BOB JACKSON
and CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITERS
YOUNGSTOWN -- Massive energy cutbacks helped the Mahoning Valley avoid a rolling blackout Friday afternoon, the Ohio Edison Co. said.
Officials hoped continued conservation throughout last night would eliminate the need for partial shutdowns this weekend.
Paul Harkey, Ohio Edison's Youngstown-area manager, said Friday the power company should know by midday today whether a rolling blackout will be necessary. He asked that residents and businesses continue conservation until they are told it's no longer necessary.
"At this point, we're looking pretty good," Harkey said.
He was speaking to a roomful of Mahoning County safety officials who'd gathered to discuss what to do in case of a rolling blackout, a controlled shutdown of electricity in designated areas for two to four hours.
One had been anticipated for this area to help compensate for power plants being brought back on line in Cleveland and other northern Ohio areas that were caught up in Thursday's massive power outage.
But Harkey said those plants were being restored to power Friday without incident.
FirstEnergy Corp. announced about 9:30 Friday night that it had ended procedures to reduce customer load.
Of the 1.4 million FirstEnergy customers in northern Ohio and western Pennsylvania who were affected by outages Thursday, service was restored to all but about 4,000 in the Cleveland area, and they were expected to be back in service by this morning.
Manufacturers' conservation
Some of the Valley's largest power consumers took drastic measures to curtail electric use after FirstEnergy sent out an appeal for conservation.
More than 750 workers at General Motors' Lordstown Assembly plant were sent home at 12:30 p.m. Friday when the plant shut down its trim and chassis lines. GM spokesman Tom Mock said officials expected to resume production for the afternoon shift.
Earlier in the day, GM turned off air conditioners in its administration building and some office employees worked with limited lighting.
WCI Steel in Warren shut down production for the first and second shifts and reduced electric usage in office areas. WCI spokesman Tim Roberts said the company would have paid a hefty fine under its contract with FirstEnergy had it failed to reduce its usage to specified levels.
V & amp;M Star in Youngstown, another major electric user, shut down its seamless steel tube production lines at 6 a.m. Friday, said Roger Lindgren, president and chief executive. Most employees came to work but spent the day doing maintenance chores.
Production was to resume at 11 p.m.
Delphi Packard Electric turned off lights and nonessential equipment and turned thermostats up to reduce air-conditioning use, said spokeswoman Ann Cornell Vickers.
YSU and hospitals
Youngstown State University announced it would turn off hallway lights on campus at noon Friday and would shut down air-conditioning units and elevators at 4 p.m.
Forum Health and Humility of Mary Health Partners have backup generators and can continue operating their hospitals in Youngstown and Warren if power is temporarily halted.
"We have a plan that covers any utility outage -- power, water, phones, sewer treatment," said Lew Hutchison, corporate director of environmental health and safety for Forum Health. "You name the utility; we have a backup plan for service."
Harkey said residential customers should continue curtailing usage until they are notified that the area is in the clear. He suggested either turning off air conditioners or setting them at a higher temperature.
Save water, too
Spokesmen for the Youngstown Water Department and Mahoning Valley Sanitary District asked that residents also conserve water. If a partial blackout does come, they want to make sure there is enough water on hand to supply customers until power is restored.
Chief James Dorman of the Boardman Fire Department said if air conditioners are shut down, people should look in on elderly or sick neighbors during the period of extreme heat.
Ken Kollar, manager of the Eastwood Mall in Niles, said the shopping center is doing its part to keep things cool for people who have lost power, don't have air conditioning or have shut it off to save energy. "We're using common-sense consumption," he said. "But at the same time, we want to be here to serve our customers."
Blood shortage
An already fragile blood supply has been affected by the wide-ranging outage, said David H. Plate, CEO for the American Red Cross Northern Ohio Blood Services Region, which serves Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties.
As of Thursday, the region had less than minimum inventory standards for six of the eight blood types. Since 4 p.m. Thursday, an estimated 500 units of blood went uncollected when some blood drives were canceled because of the outage.
"This is a life-threatening situation. People in local hospitals are at risk," said Plate, who asked that people donate blood over the weekend or as soon as possible.
Blood donors in the Northern Ohio Blood Services Region are urged to call (800) 448-3543 to confirm blood-drive locations and hours of operation.