July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Lightning leaves jail in dark (5/25/04)
911 system also went down
A delayed electrical problem left inmates and staff at the Jay County Jail in the dark for about 30 minutes Saturday afternoon.
Jay County Sheriff Todd Penrod updated Jay County Commissioners on the situation Monday, saying that a lightning strike on an American Electric Power transformer sometime on Friday was the root of Saturday’s blackout.
Penrod said that not only were there no lights at the jail, but that radio communications and the county’s 911 system also were down.
Penrod said on Monday that he does not believe that any emergency calls were attempted in Jay County during the period from about 5 to 5:30 p.m. If calls were made, they would have automatically be diverted to a nearby county.
But even if it had received a call from another 911 center, Jay County would have had problems responding because of the lack of radio communication.
Penrod said a reduction in the electrical supply to the jail caused a malfunction in the jail’s automatic generator. The generator, which is designed to kick on automatically in the event of a power failure, kept starting and stopping, Penrod said.
A control circuit for the generator finally failed and the generator was started manually.
An AEP crew called about the situation requested that the generator be shut down while repairs were made to the transformer so that power would not feed back through the lines outside the jail.
Penrod said the temperature rose quickly inside the jail, which was in total darkness because of a lack of windows to the outside.
He said that there were no problems with security or disruptions by inmates during the blackout.
Also Monday afternoon, the commissioners were told of ongoing computer problems by two officials from Jay Emergency Medical Service.
Director Teresa Foster-Geesaman and claims coordinator Marla Grady said that the problems, which also were caused by a lightning strike, have affected two JEMS computers since May 14.
They said an employee of Progressive Office Products had spent more than eight hours working on the computers but had left the JEMS office at 11 a.m. and had not returned as of about 2 p.m.
The pair said that the Progressive employee said that the problem began with a lightning strike/power surge that affected Foster-Geesaman’s computer. The problem then moved through the computer network to Grady’s computer, they were told.[[In-content Ad]]
Jay County Sheriff Todd Penrod updated Jay County Commissioners on the situation Monday, saying that a lightning strike on an American Electric Power transformer sometime on Friday was the root of Saturday’s blackout.
Penrod said that not only were there no lights at the jail, but that radio communications and the county’s 911 system also were down.
Penrod said on Monday that he does not believe that any emergency calls were attempted in Jay County during the period from about 5 to 5:30 p.m. If calls were made, they would have automatically be diverted to a nearby county.
But even if it had received a call from another 911 center, Jay County would have had problems responding because of the lack of radio communication.
Penrod said a reduction in the electrical supply to the jail caused a malfunction in the jail’s automatic generator. The generator, which is designed to kick on automatically in the event of a power failure, kept starting and stopping, Penrod said.
A control circuit for the generator finally failed and the generator was started manually.
An AEP crew called about the situation requested that the generator be shut down while repairs were made to the transformer so that power would not feed back through the lines outside the jail.
Penrod said the temperature rose quickly inside the jail, which was in total darkness because of a lack of windows to the outside.
He said that there were no problems with security or disruptions by inmates during the blackout.
Also Monday afternoon, the commissioners were told of ongoing computer problems by two officials from Jay Emergency Medical Service.
Director Teresa Foster-Geesaman and claims coordinator Marla Grady said that the problems, which also were caused by a lightning strike, have affected two JEMS computers since May 14.
They said an employee of Progressive Office Products had spent more than eight hours working on the computers but had left the JEMS office at 11 a.m. and had not returned as of about 2 p.m.
The pair said that the Progressive employee said that the problem began with a lightning strike/power surge that affected Foster-Geesaman’s computer. The problem then moved through the computer network to Grady’s computer, they were told.[[In-content Ad]]
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