While the crippling blackout of Thursday, Aug. 14 had little direct affect on UB's two campuses, it raised an important question - is UB prepared for a catastrophic power outage?
During the August blackout, power remained on at UB, even as many cities and towns in Erie and Niagara counties went dark.
Bob Migdalski, assistant director of operations at University Facilities, said UB experienced problems with low voltage.
"We lost a couple buildings, but those were brought back online in a couple of hours," he said.
UB gets its power from Huntley Station in Tonawanda, Migdalski said, and it is distributed throughout UB's buildings by a substation located on campus.
In the event of a blackout, the university's high voltage electricians would report to the substation and bring back power in a sequence, according to Migdalski.
Particular facilities at UB receive priority in terms of power restoration, Migdalski added. While UB was lessening its overall power usage during the crisis, certain scientific research and lab animal care facilities were kept at normal levels of power.
Public safety officials said that should a serious electricity shortage occur on campus, UB has a plan intact.
"There is an emergency plan," said John Woods, associate director of University Police. "It has worked in every instance I can remember. We've got contingencies for everything we've encountered. If the power would've been knocked out on campus we would have been able to handle it."
"We make sure the people are safeguarded," Woods said. "For example, we would have officers walking through the buildings if the fire alarm system goes."
Though the university police normally operate with eight officers, that number could be increased in the event of a power outage or other emergency, Woods said.
"We would also certainly take care of the busiest traffic concerns," said Woods, stressing that if necessary they would call additional people.
Some UB students, however, don't believe anything could be done to keep UB open in the event of an outage.
"I can't see UB staying open very long without power," said Rebecca Rogers, a junior pharmacy major. "There are too many things based on computers and electronics, and too many rooms without windows that would be totally dark."
Mike Dray, a senior chemical engineering major, joked about the prospect of a blackout.
"Nobody on campus would have AOL (Instant Messenger)," he said. "They'd all go nuts not knowing how to communicate with one another."
"I honestly think the administration would do a good job though - the police wouldn't have any problems writing parking tickets," he continued.
"I think people would deal with it calmly," said Elise Rumpf, a sophomore math and physics double major. "I'm sure we'd all stop going to classes and just spend time with each other. We'd meet new people because it would be hard to get a hold of friends who aren't close by and I think most would make an effort to help their neighbors find food or whatever else they need."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
