call for help | What to do

In an emergency, who to call? Here’s where to get help and suggestions on how to handle a power outage.

Ohio Edison, a First Energy company: Call the Outage Reporting Line to report outages, downed power lines or other hazardous situations, (888) 544-4877. Customers with a communication disability can report an outage using the appropriate TTY/TDD relay service. More information on outages is available at its Web site, www.firstenergycorp.com.

Ohio Edison also advises people to turn off or unplug televisions, VCRs, DVD players, stereos, computers and appliances that use electric motors such as refrigerators, freezers or air conditioners, until power is restored. Leave an incandescent light on so you know when the power comes back on.

Keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed. These appliances are well insulated, so food will keep for hours if opening the door is kept to a minimum.

Use a flashlight or battery-powered lantern for light. Use care when burning candles; open flames are a dangerous fire hazard.

Keep warm safely. Put on extra clothes or wrap up in blankets. Do not rely on gas stoves, kerosene space heaters, charcoal grilles or other open-flame heat sources. Deadly carbon monoxide gas, which is odorless and invisible, may build up in your home without you realizing it.

Help Hotline Crisis Center: Cathy Grizinsky, associate director, said the center, (330) 747-2696, handles crisis-related calls including suicides and is a 211 center, which means it connects people to resources they need such as shelter, clothing. “A lot of people are losing food in their refrigerators, so we are referring them to various food pantries, she said about calls the center has received from people without power. “We also have answered some questions on oxygen use,” she said, for people with respiratory and lung ailments, who use electrically powered equipment. She said they have helped people get generators. “Much of it is simple stuff but people, many senior citizens, get anxious,” she said. “We’re here to help. So we sometimes make calls for people or make sure they get in touch with family to help.”

Red Cross: Christina Gargas of the Trumbull (330) 392-2551, and Mercer, Pa., Chapter, (724) 962-9180, said the chapter had opened a shelter at 11 a.m. Monday at Champion Presbyterian Church but closed it at 6 p.m. “We had made it available but no one came,” she said. “But if the need arises for a shelter, it will depend on where the target population is.” She said the chapter was concerned about people on oxygen. The chapter fielded a variety of calls from people asking “what to do.”

Vicky Gill of the Mahoning County Chapter, (330) 726-6063, said callers were referred to Help Hotline. The chapter generally does not deal with fallout from power outages because they are short-term emergencies. “If this would last longer, we would come up with a plan,” Gill said.

Carole Dunfee of the Greater Pottery Area Chapter that covers Columbiana County, (330) 332-0028, said the chapter isn’t offering help at this time.

“If it was winter, we would have shelters,” she said.

The Red Cross offers this list of suggestions for an emergency: water, food and a manual can opener, flashlights and batteries, first aid kit, batter-powered or alternative powered radio, tools, duct tape and plastic sheeting, clothing and bedding, prescriptions and non-prescription medications, pet supplies, cash and coins, sanitary supplies, important papers and contact information and a map.

Dominion East Ohio customers: If you smell gas, suspect a leak or if there is an explosion or fire, call (877) 542-2630.

Time Warner Cable: If you call (877) 772-2253, a recording informs the caller that service in northeast Ohio has been affected. Service can not be restored until electrical power is restored, the message notes.