What Happens When Your Power Goes Out? Here’s The Deal
August 13, 2008
A few scattered power outages were reported Tuesday night as a line of strong storms moved through North Escambia. Have you ever thought about what happens when your power goes out? NorthEscambia.com thought we would take a look at the behind the scenes things that take place to get your power back on.
Our scenario below involves Escambia River Electric Cooperative and a hypothetical power outage in Walnut Hill. The events could just as well happen in any community in North Escambia on EREC or Gulf Power.
Here’s our little story, “When the Lights Go Out”:
You were on your couch watching the Olympics early last night. The main storm has passed, and the rain outside has just about lulled you into a quick early evening nap.
Then it happens. Your power blinks one, two, three times and it’s off. You make your way in the dark to the kitchen where your glow-in-the-dark EREC magnet on the refrigerator is illuminated enough so that you can read the outage number. You call the number, 1-877-OUT-EREC, and follow the voice prompts to report your home’s outage. Your job is done.
What happens now? First of all, let’s set up the scenario for our hypothetical outage. Let’s say you live on Arthur Brown Road in Walnut Hill. This address receives power from the Oak Grove substation, just across the road from the Oak Grove Park on North Highway 99. You are assuming the evening’s thunderstorm is the culprit for your home being left in the dark. You know the proper action for you to take is to call the EREC outage number which you have done. Now, here’s the sequence of events which will take place to restore your power as quickly and safely as possible.
In our power outage scenario, your call comes in to the dispatch center and your name and address appear immediately on the computer screen. The dispatcher then contacts the on-call EREC crew to make repairs. Since the two-man crew is on-call for the evening, each crewman has driven home an EREC truck loaded with equipment and supplies necessary to repair any typical outage that might occur. So when the dispatch call is received, each crewman leaves his home and heads directly to the site of the outage. He does not need to take extra time to go by the EREC facility and get the vehicle, equipment and supplies needed to repair the outage.
Upon arrival to the outage location, the crew investigates the reason for the power failure. Meanwhile they have received additional calls from the dispatch center letting them know there are other nearby houses on Arthur Brown Road, Corley Road and Juniper Street that are experiencing outages as well. After assessment of the power system, the crew determines that the cause of the outage is an RE failure (an oil reclosure breaker) in the substation due to a lightning strike.
This can be handled quickly by the two-man crew so there is no need for additional personnel to be called in for assistance. The crew repairs the damage and calls the dispatch center to let them know all power has been restored. The dispatch center then calls back each member that has reported a power outage to be sure they do have power.
The purpose of this story is to create a picture of what is actually happening during a typical power restoration. This is only a possible scenario and, of course, there are many different reasons why your power can go out.
“Although we cannot imagine all the power outage scenarios that can happen, there is one thing we can be sure of. EREC will be there to restore your power as quickly as possible in the dead of night, in the middle of terrible storms or whatever the case may be – EREC crews will do what needs to be done to get the lights back on,” said Sabrina Owens, EREC’s marketing director.
She said that in the case of major outages such as those that occur with hurricanes or other severe weather, specific procedures are in place to restore power to the most people in the shortest amount of time. The following steps describe power restoration after a storm.
- Transmission towers and lines supply power to one or more transmission substations. These lines seldom fail, but they can be damaged by a hurricane or tornado. Tens of thousands of people could be served by one high-voltage transmission line, so if there is damage here it gets attention first.
- Escambia River EC has several local distribution substations, each serving thousands of members. When a major outage occurs, the local distribution substations are checked first. A problem here could be caused by failure in the transmission system supplying the substation. If the problem can be corrected at the substation level, power may be restored to a large number of people.
- Main distribution supply lines are checked next if the problem cannot be isolated at the substation. These supply lines carry electricity away from the substation to a group of members, such as a town or housing development. When power is restored at this stage, all members served by this supply line could see the lights come on, as long as there is no problem farther down the line.
- The final supply lines, called tap lines, carry power to the utility poles or underground transformers outside houses or other buildings. Line crews fix the remaining outages based on restoring service to the greatest number of members.
- Sometimes, damage will occur on the service line between your house and the transformer on the nearby pole. This can explain why you have no power when your neighbor does. EREC needs to know you have an outage in this type of situation so that a service crew can repair it.
Members themselves (not the cooperative) are responsible for damage to the service installation on the building. The member will need to have a licensed electrician make these repairs.
For more photos from inside the Oak Grove Power substation, click here.
Special thanks to Sabrina Owens at EREC for her assistance with our story, and to the linemen that assisted with the photographs. It’s worth noting that the photographs were taken on a nice sunny morning rather than during a real power outage after a storm due to the dangers of standing in a power substation after a storm has just passed.
Pictured above: EREC prepare to fix an oil reclosure breaker (RE) failure inside the Oak Grove power substation. Pictured below: That breaker is installed on a transmission line headed to the Arthur Brown Road area of Walnut Hill. NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos, click to enlarge.
Area Man Travels To Beijing, Site Of The Summer Olympics
August 12, 2008
The 2008 Summer Olympics are well underway this week in Beijing, China. While Beijing may seem a world away and culturally odd to many in North Escambia, one area man that has made multiple visits to China says it is a great place.
Bill Busch, COO of Alto Products Corp. in nearby Atmore, travels to China at least twice per year to visit the company’s sales office in Shenzhen. Shenzhen is about 1200 miles from Beijing, but Busch has paid several visits to Beijing to visit Alto customers.
“Beijing has very, very nice people,” Busch said. “They are very enthusiastic.”
Besides the people, he said he enjoys the city and its culture.
“It is very much like New York City because it is such a big city,” he said. “But it is perhaps a little more modern. It is very Western. There is a Starbucks everywhere, plus you will find companies like KFC, Pizza Hut and McDonalds all over the city.”
“There is still a lot of old culture there, a lot of people that ride bicycles to work,” he said. “I enjoy things like the older parts of the city and the Great Wall; it is very impressive.”
But equally impressive is the “Bird’s Nest”, the main Olympic stadium that Busch has seen first hand.
Busch enjoys the food when he travels to Beijing, a city that announced it was ordering the removal of dog meat from restaurant menus during the Olympics.
“The food I enjoy contains a lot of vegetables and fish,” he said. “It is very different that the Chinese food in restaurants here in the United States.”
“I really, really enjoy visiting Beijing,” he said.
Alto Products is the world’s largest and oldest independently owned and operated transmission clutch manufacturer in the world, having manufactured over a billion clutches in the past 50 years. In addition to the corporate office and manufacturing facility in Atmore, the company operates offices and distribution facilities in California, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Germany, India, China, Dubai and Australia.
“China is one of our fastest growing markets right now,” Busch said.
Alto employees many North Escambia residents at their Atmore facility.
Pictured above: Bill Busch (blue shirt, top middle) in the Alto China sales office with Alto employees Albert and John and their families. Submitted photo.
Local Church Gives New Pastor A Pounding, And A Little Sugar Too
August 11, 2008
The members of one local church gave their new pastor and his wife a pounding Sunday night. And they gave him a little sugar too.
Ray’s Chapel Baptist Church in Bogia gave new Pastor Nathan Brown and his wife Danielle a pounding following their Sunday evening service.
A pounding is an old fashioned tradition celebrated in many churches were a new pastor is welcomed to the church with gifts of food. Traditionally, a pounding would provide a pastor and his family with a pound of staples, such as a pound of flour, a pound of sugar, a pound of butter and a pound of other basic items.
The Ray’s Chapel pounding for their new pastor was perhaps a bit more modern, with items such as Easy Mac, 100 calories packs of Oreo cookies, Kool Aid, Hamburger Helpers and snack items. The boxes of food also include handwritten recipes for many homemade dishes.
Nathan and his wife Danielle are from Dutton, Alabama, near Scottsboro in the northern part of the state.
He is a recent graduate with a master’s degree from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and he interned at Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola.
He officially began his service as Ray’s Chapel new pastor on August 1.
Poundings, we are told, are sometimes also given in a church to provide food for needy families in the community.
Pictured above: Danielle and Rev. Nathan Brown were given a pounding at Ray’s Chapel Baptist Church in Bogia Sunday night. Pictured below: Some of the food items in the pounding. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Do You Know Anything About These Beads? Hint: They Are Very Old
August 10, 2008
The Teaspoon Foundation in Century seeks your help if you know anything about the local use of beads like those pictured below.
The following was submitted by Jack Moran from the Teaspoon Foundation:
Back in the 1700’s the French, English, and Spanish traders would bring glass beads like these chevron trade beads that were made in Venice, Italy, to be traded with the Native Americans, African slaves, African Freedmen, Rivermen, trappers and Buckskinners. The French, English and Spanish would trade the beads, cloth, knives, axes, traps, and salt for pine pitch, dried corn, deer skins, potatoes, and jerked-dried meat that would be shipped back to Cuba, Spain and Europe via Pensacola or Mobile.
Trade companies like the Leslie-Paton Company in Pensacola paid with beads and wampum (shell) and with Spanish silver as well as with the beads and trade goods. There is a lot of history on these types of trade beads. These beads were cherished by women, especially for hair decoration. If you have or remember having seen any VERY OLD beads of this or other types, The Teaspoon Foundation is interested in hearing from you. We are collecting historical items related to Teaspoon.
If you know stories about the Rivermen who worked on the Escambia or Mobile Rivers a very long time ago, we want to hear them. If you remember stories about coming to Teaspoon to trade stuff, or if you know stories about making pine-pitch, or if you know stories about the old freedmen pine-wood villages or old home-places or cemeteries known to have been located in the woods of North Escambia, Florida, and South Escambia, Alabama, we want to hear those stories too. We will respect your private information.
Please email me at jack@teaspoonfoundation.com
Jean Webb, Former Ernest Ward Staffer, Held Book Signing
August 9, 2008
Jean Webb, a former teacher and administrator at Ernest Ward High School in Walnut Hill, held a book signing Friday. In the end, the books were all sold and many friends were together sharing stories of their days as Golden Eagles.
Webb signed copies of her new book “Feet of Clay” at the main branch of the First National Bank of Atmore Friday afternoon.
Set in Richmond, VA, and Mobile during the 1880’s, “Feet of Clay” is a family saga, a historical romance, a murder mystery, a courtroom drama and a study of human behavior all rolled into one.
“There are no perfect heroes here, only men with feet of clay,” she said of her book. “They have been wronged: They have done wrong, but are honorable men with all too many human flaws.”
Webb, who spent 35 years as an English teacher and administrator at Ernest Ward High School, is currently a member of the Wetumpka Fine Arts Club and the Episcopal Church. Her interests include reading, writing, and following sports…especially football and basketball. She has four children: Letha, Rick, Jean, and Pellar. She now resides near Wetumpka, Alabama.
Click here to order “Feet of Clay” online.
First Dolly Imagination Library Books Arriving In North Escambia Mailboxes
August 6, 2008
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library arrived in North Escambia back in late June, with plans to provide a free book every month for every child under five years old.
Now, just over a month later, the books are set to start arriving the mailboxes of about 300 children around Escambia County. Roughly half, about 150 of them, are in the area in and around Century, according to Diane Hutcherson, executive director of the Early Learning Coalition of Escambia County. The coalition administers the program locally.
In 1996, Dolly launched a new effort to benefit the children of her home county in east Tennessee. Dolly wanted to foster a love of reading among her county’s preschool children and their families. She wanted children to be excited about books and to feel the magic that books can create. And she wanted to insure that every child would have books, regardless of their family’s income.
She decided to mail a brand new, age appropriate book each month to every child under five in Sevier County, Tennesee. With the arrival of every child’s first book, the classic The Little Engine That Could, every child could now experience the joy of finding their very own book in their mailbox. These moments continue each month until the child turns five,and in their very last month in the program they receive Look Out Kindergarten Here I Come.
Now children under in Century and the surrounding North Escambia area can signup for the same program under the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. They will receive a new age appropriate book each month until they turn five…all at absolutely no cost. And, there are no income requirements for the program.
“Parents will not pay a dime for the program,” said Larry Kenny, special projects director for the Early Learning Coalition. “They will not be added to any kind of mailing list; their information is kept private and used only to mail the books free of charge to their homes.”
The coalition recently purchased the 12 books that would typically be sent to a two year old participating the program. “It was $225 for us to buy the books locally at retail,” Hutcherson said. “And any parent can get these books mailed to their home for their child for free.”
Century area parents were able to enroll their children in the program for the first time during a celebration the the Campfire USA Child Development Center back on June 28.
Parents can continue to enroll their children in the free program during regular business hours at Campfire USA on Industrial Boulevard, at the Century Pharmacy on Mayo Street, at New Life Baptist Church and at the Century Branch Library.
Funding for the program in the Century area is provided by the Teaspoon Foundation and Century Pharmacy.
“It’s exciting to me how well this has gone,” Jack Moran of Century pharmacy said. “This is going to go a long way toward improving school grades.”
Hutcherson said the group is looking for more funding to allow more children to receive the books. Right now, the program has been rolled out only in Century and at a few Pensacola locations due to limited funding. The cost per child, she said, is about $30 per year. For more information, contact the Early Learning Coalition of Escambia County at 595-5400.
Pictured above: Jared Bevan, 4, enjoys reading one of the books from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library at Campfire USA in Century on June 28. Pictured below: Some of the books from the program. NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
Book Signing Held
August 2, 2008
A book signing was held Friday for the The Flomaton Centennial Scrapbook at the Escambia County Bank.
“It’s what its name implies: a scrapbook mixture of topics presented in pictures, text and old newspaper clippings,” said author Jerry Simmons.
Compiled by Simmons, the book has a history of Flomaton’s first 100 years and 346 plus pages with pictures. “But it’s not a history book,” he said. “It’s not a picture book.”
The book also contains information and pictures from South Flomaton on the Florida side. South Flomaton became Century in 1980.
“It depicts Flomaton as a tiny little settlement which grew because of the railroad. Due to the nature of its people and the people of the surrounding area it has lasted these 100 hundred years even though the importance of the railroad to its existence has diminished,” Simmons said.
The book can be purchased for $40 at the Escambia County Bank in Flomaton.
It can also be purchased through the Escambia County Historical Society with a portion of the sales price going toward the society’s scholarship fund. To order, call Simmons at (251) 765-2629 or (251)867-7332. Or, stop by the Thomas E. McMillan Museum at Jefferson Davis Community College in Brewton on Tuesdays or Thursdays from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.
PDF samples of the book may be found at http://www.escohis.org/flcent/flc_ent_preview.html
Pictured above: Members of the Centennial Book Committee at the Escambia County Bank Friday were (standing, L-R) Lunette Weaver Ptomey, Dot Weaver Ptomey, Beverly Simpson and Jerry Fisher. Seated is Jerry Simmons. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge. Pictured below: The Big “R” Drive-In located in South Flomaton (present day Century) in 1962.. It later became Garrett’s Drive-In, pictured bottom in 1970. Today, it is the Sandwich Deli in Century. Pictures from the Flomaton Centennial Scrapbook.
Community Supports Horse Rescue Group; Three Kids Help Raise Funds
July 31, 2008
A local horse rescue group’s financial situation has improved, partially thanks to three children that took it upon themselves to raise money for the group.
After an article on NorthEscambia.com and a report on a Mobile television station, donations began to arrive for Panhandle Equine Rescue, a non-profit horse rescue group located in the Molino area.
PER has received several donations from the community totaling about $3,000, including $231.31 from three Pace kids.
Hannah Richards, 11, Emily Richards, 8, and Michael Abendan, 10, of Pace learned of PER’s plight and hit a neighborhood street with a bucket and a sign that read “Help Save the Abused Horse Shelter”. Over six days for up to two and a half hours per day, the three took a stand for PER. Emily, Hannah and Michael (L-R) are pictured above with rescued horse Jasmine.
“It made me feel really, really bad about the horses,” Hannah told NorthEscambia.com. “I asked my friend, and we help up our sign to help.”
While Hannah and her sister Emily do not have a horse at their home in the Woodbine Springs area, their grandfather does have horses that they ride.
“I love horses, and I just wanted to do something to help the abused horses,” she said.
After spending three years helping horses in Escambia County, Panhandle Equine rescue turned to the community for help about two weeks ago. PER has investigated cases involving 466 horses and rescued 54 horses since 2005.
Along with their ordinary operation expenses, PER is facing huge medical bills for a horse named Raven. In less than 10 days, her medical bills have hit $1,200, and she will spending 30 days on an expensive medication.
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Raven and her colt Racer were rescued April 11 from Highway 168 near Century. The horses were reported to be running freely around the area on at least two occasions, and they were not being properly fed, according to PER. Their owner voluntarily surrendered them to PER. The photos above left shows their living conditions in January, and the photo on the right shows Raven in early December. Click the photos to enlarge (some readers may find the enlarged photos disturbing).
The following was submitted by Diane Lowery, president of PER:
Panhandle Equine Rescue is in desperate need of donations to help pay the vet bills on a rescued Arabian mare.
Raven, along with her colt, Racer, were rescued in April. Both were adopted out, but Raven was returned to us because of her health issues.
Since July 8th, her expenses have added up to almost $1,200.00. She had to be admitted into the vet clinic again for the second time Thursday night due to regular bouts of colic. She has been diagnosed with “Grade 2 Ulcers” and experiences pain on a daily basis.
She has been started on an oral paste that must be given daily. One tube costs $33.00. She must receive this medicine for 28 days.
Panhandle Equine Rescue has a total of 17 horses in foster care and very little in donations has been coming in. We’re planning some fund raisers to try to compensate for our losses, but it may be too late.
We are really frustrated at this point, because we know that our services are needed in this county. We rely solely on donations. We do not receive county or state funding, nor have we received any federal grants. In 2005, three of us were approved by a judge to do equine investigations in Escambia County and since then, we have worked 111 cases involving 466 horses. We have rescued 54 horses.
In addition, we are in great need of foster homes. We are at full capacity and cannot take in any more rescues until we have more space and can raise the funds to support them.
If anyone would like to sponsor Raven to help get her through this horrible ordeal in her life, we would appreciate it.
A monthly sponsor receives a picture and a quarterly update or you can be a one time sponsor. To read about her rescue, go to www.panhandleequinerescue.org
Donations can be sent to PER, P.O. Box 777, Cantonment, FL 32533
Atmores Visit Atmore From Across The Pond; He’s The Former Queen’s Bodyguard (Yes, THAT Queen)
July 29, 2008
North Escambia’s neighbors to the north recently had a few visitors from across the big pond. The Atmore family from England recently paid Atmore a visit on their tour of North America.
Kenneth and Ann Atmore of Bexleyheath, England, toured portions of Canada and the United States recently. She is a dental nurse. He’s a retired police officer, retired from the job of The Queen’s Police Officer. That’s right…he was the personal bodyguard for the Queen.
The Atmores hit several local restaurants, the library, city hall and more as they were treated with almost celebrity status in Atmore.
For the complete story of the Atmores visit to Atmore from the Atmore News, click here.
Faith Bible Baptist Youth Attend Camp; Walk The Purple People Bridge
July 27, 2008
The youth from Faith Bible Baptist Church in Bluff Springs recently returned from a week long youth trip.
The group of 10 youth and two leaders visited the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky. The museums presents a scientific approach to Biblical creation.
“It was good to see the things that we know from the Bible confirmed in science. Everything makes sense when you start with the Bible and go on from there,” said Faith Bible Baptist youth member Ryne Barrow, 17.
While at the museum, the youth attended a planetarium presentation and spent time in the museum’s expansive botanical garden. Afterwards, they visited Newport on Levee and cross the Purple People Bridge, the longest pedestrian bridge connecting two states. The 2,670 foot long purple-painted bridge stretches across the Ohio River from Newport, Kentucky, to Cincinnati, Ohio.
The youth attended church services at Salem Baptist Church in Cincinnati, with pastor Phillip Blackwell. Sunday evening, the Faith Bible youth helped with Salem Baptist’s Vacation Bible School country fair by working booths, giving out prizes, serving food and cleaning up.
The youth then spent five days at Camp Chautauqua in Miamisburg, Ohio, where they enjoyed morning and evening chapel services. The camp was Olympic themed using the phrase “Go for the gold” based on 2 Timothy 4:7-8 which says in part “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith”.
The speaker for Monday and Tuesday was Dr. David McCoy, pastor of People’s Baptist Church of McDonough, Georgia.Wednesday and Thursday’s chapel service were brought by Senior Pastor Jerry Siler and by Bro. Kirk Kirkland, both of Cornerstone Baptist Temple of Dayton, Ohio.
While at camp, Kolbi Cobb was nominated by her peers to a court of four out of 430 teens as camp queen. The nomination was based on participation, character and attitude. This was Kolbi’s second consecutive year to be nominated for camp queen.
Camp activities included tournament softball, basketball, volleyball and dodgeball. The senior girls won a gold medal in softball and basketball, while the senior boys won gold in dodgeball.
The teens also enjoyed Frisbee golf, miniature golf, swimming, zip line, paint ball, air hockey, bowling and many other activities. Their daily schedule began at 7:00 a.m. and sometimes continued until 2:00 a.m. with activities.
The Faith Bible Baptist Church teens attending were: Olivia Nolen, Kolbi Cobb, Jordyn Dunsford, Erin Fremin, Lauren Howell, Victoria Barrow, Jamie Gafford, Zach Barrow, Ryne Barrow and Blake Wiggins. They were accompanied by youth leaders Jeremy and Elizabeth Bondurant.
Robert Barrow in pastor of Faith Bible Baptist Church.
Submitted photos and information by Elizabeth Bondurant.
Picture above outside the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky, are Faith Bible Baptist Church members (front, L-R) Lauren Howell, Jordyn Dunsford, Jamie Gafford, Zach Barrow, Erin Fremin, Olivia Nolen, (back, L-R) Jeremy Bondurant, Ryne Barrow, Blake Wiggins, Elizabeth Bondurant, Victoria Barrow and Kolbi Cobb. Submitted photo.