File photos.
The City of Long Beach has added 15 new heavy-duty mobile generators to its ranks, for future emergencies, such as last summer’s power outages, the city announced today.
Purchased with $1.4 million in Homeland Security Grant funds through the Los Angeles/Long Beach Urban Security Initiative (UASI), the 200-kilowatt generators will be stored in strategic places throughout the city, according to the release.
“These generators are part of the region’s counterterrorism response plan,” said Reggie Harrison, the city’s director of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Communications, in a statement. “We also anticipate using these generators in the event we need to provide emergency power to operate critical infrastructure such as pump stations, and facilities such as shelter sites.”
Last summer’s power outages put thousands of people out of power as the downtown grid went down, and involved many people huddling at area restaurants with generators, charging their phones and taking advantage of the air conditioning on hot nights in the city. Businesses and city locations without generator access lost thousands in revenue in the days without power.
“These emergency generators will be an extremely valuable asset,” said Mayor Robert Garcia in a statement. “They are just one part of the City’s on-going efforts to enhance our emergency response.”
The new generators come as the City of Los Angeles transfers ownership of them to the city. However, the agreement stipulates that the generators are also open to use by other cities and participating agencies, which have access to them as well in the event of an emergency.
The grant funds that enabled acquisition of the generators includes annual maintenance costs, the city stated. The grants in particular are usually used to train emergency response personnel, but can also be used to employ regional responses to emergency preparedness.