Power Connect Newsletter

Roofs were ripped off while trees and power lines lay strewn across the ground after a Memorial Day tornado outbreak ravaged Indiana. One of the hardest hit cities was Pendleton, which took the brunt of what the National Weather Service said was at least an EF-2 tornado with winds up to 130 miles per hour. According to the service, the tornado that hit the town was 100 yards wide and was on the ground for nearly six miles. The Indiana State Police reported at least 75 homes were damaged and about 4,200 households were without electricity. Streets were closed and residents were urged to shelter in place for several days while crews worked to restore power. Only one injury was reported, and several people say that is because they got an alert on their cell phone to go inside.

Although thousands of people were without power, they had access to cellular networks. That is because of the use of a Generac backup generator. Without a generator, people would not be able to access emergency services and get the help they need. Emergency services rely on cell networks in addition to radio communication, so when disaster strikes, it’s especially important that they remain operational.

One of the nation’s largest cell provider has a cellular tower that gave Pendleton residents the opportunity to call for emergency services because their tower is backed up by a Generac 60 kW diesel generator. “We have a great  working relationship with telecom operations in our market and we have been a vendor of choice for many years,” said Steve Maser, vice president power systems manager, EVAPAR. “We service all of our generators in Indiana and Kentucky annually and the tower in Pendleton has not had any historical generator issues and the unit has successfully backed up the site when it was required.”
 

EVAPAR prides itself on always being there for the customer and making sure their unit runs when it needs to. During the aftermath of the tornados, the Pendleton area was without power for several days and one telecom generator was running out of fuel. “The units are set to 40% low fuel alarm and when that went off, we got a call from the generator owner,” said Maser. “We had them close the area and we dispatched a truck with 100 gallons of diesel fuel that helped refuel the generator during the outages.” Maser said the process was flawless and the generator never had to drop load while refueling. Thanks to collaborative efforts from the owner and EVAPAR, this innovative solution has been keeping cell service operational for Pendleton, Indiana residents no matter what the weather.