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Generators Ordered, But Installation Plans Not Included

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By GRETCHEN PARKER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 20, 2008

Updated: 01/20/2008 12:13 am

An ambitious plan to establish super-sized generators at dozens of special-needs hurricane shelters before the start of storm season last year failed.
Emergency officials spent $53 million on generators for 52 shelters statewide but ran out of cash as they began the complicated process of installing them. They estimate they're about $44 million short.

They blame the deficit on being in too much of a hurry to do the job in the panicked post-Hurricane Katrina atmosphere. As they rushed to arrange backup power at the shelters for the most fragile residents, their planning fell short.

Planners didn't take enough time to figure out how much installation would cost. They're only just now getting five of the generators up and running; they say another 11 will be ready before the start of hurricane season June 1. They have the cash to install another six after that.

Now they need more money to finish the job, said Craig Fugate, director of the state Division of Emergency Management.

He plans to ask lawmakers for the additional $44 million over the next two years. The money would go toward installation of the generators that have been built to order and are sitting in a storage yard in Ocala.

There are about 30 that fell into the gap, with no money for installation. If lawmakers approve the additional money, those would be online by March 2010.

Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, heads the committee that doled out the original millions for the generators. He was alarmed when he heard of the delay and the shortfall, he said.

"You lost a year, and thank God we didn't have any hurricanes," Fasano said. "Can you imagine how much worse it would have been if we'd had a hurricane, and people in shelters, and these generators sitting (in storage)?"

In granting the original $53 million two years ago, lawmakers wanted to ensure that the state's most fragile residents could wait out storms in air-conditioned spaces with electricity for their medical equipment, even if the power goes out.

Now Fasano says he's ready to support Fugate in his effort to get the money he needs.

Fugate said he's taking responsibility for not keeping the Legislature informed earlier about the impending shortfall. Fasano says if he had known, he could have proposed more funding last year to prop up the program and keep it from falling so far behind schedule.

All along, the plan should have been for a three-year project, Fugate said.

"It was overly optimistic to get it done in one year," he said.

Sun Dome To Get A Generator

Two of the five new, permanent generators that are nearly online are nearby - in Polk County at the McKeel Academy shelter and in Manatee County at Manatee Technical Institute.

In Hillsborough, Polk and Pasco counties, every special-needs shelter already has some backup power, either from a permanent or portable generator. There are enough kilowatts for the circuits that would power crucial medical equipment - including nebulizers, which administer inhaled medicines, and breathing machines that keep patients from suffocating.

The backup power also is needed to recharge batteries in electric wheelchairs so patients can stay mobile and to keep refrigerators running and medication cold.

Statewide, hundreds of special-needs shelters also have some temporary or permanent backup power already. The goal of the new generator plan was to give more of them enough juice to power medical equipment along with lights and air conditioning.

Air conditioning is a crucial need for fragile patients, whose health can deteriorate quickly if they become overheated while waiting for storm winds to pass.

Recognizing how crucial air conditioning is for fragile evacuees, emergency planners in Hillsborough County used program money along with other grants to order more generator power at the University of South Florida's Sun Dome. That's the county's predominant special-needs shelter, with room for 1,200 patients. It's not in line to get one of the new generators.

Fugate emphasizes that even if the new generators don't get permanent installation, plans are in place for moving them quickly and setting them up temporarily if a hurricane heads this way.

"As soon as a county says, 'We're going to open up this shelter,' we'd deploy the generators," Fugate said.

The downside is that without permanent foundations, the mega-generators could be only partially fueled. It's not the ideal solution, Fugate said, but it's feasible in the short-term.

Officials Skipped Design Phase

In the worried months after Hurricane Katrina, amid news reports of sick seniors who withered as they waited for help, it seemed clear to Fugate that his department needed to get backup power to special-needs shelters as soon as possible.

Emergency planners in other hurricane-prone states felt the same. Soon, there was a run on the large, built-to-order generators that these shelters need.

The message from industry experts, engineers and planners was clear, he said: "To get these generators installed in 18 months, if you don't order them now, they won't be there."

In their rush to order the equipment and meet the June 1 deadline lawmakers set last year, planners skipped the design phase of the project. Instead, they worked off of generic designs that didn't account for how complicated it would be to install these generators at unique sites.

Some of the generators are as big as school buses; the transfer switches alone are the size of phone booths. Each generator needs a foundation, walls or a fence and expensive, buried copper cable that in some cases stretches far from the shelter itself.

The whole operation also has to withstand hurricane winds of at least 150 mph.

The biggest generator in the program is planned for Wiregrass Ranch High School in Pasco County. The 2.5-megawatt generator itself cost $847,000; the construction cost $3.4 million. It needs two separate transfer switches.

The engineering was extensive, said Danny Kilcollins, manager of the program for the state.

The higher estimates for construction began coming in around March; soon it became clear the budget was blown, Fugate said. The generators, however, were already under construction.

"The lesson was if you don't have a good design phase and good estimates, on some of these new projects you're really shooting in the dark," Fugate said. "If you're going to hurry and buy all the material and hope you have enough money for installation ... you have to be prepared for this type of situation."

Reporter Gretchen Parker can be reached at (813) 259-7562 or gparker@tampatrib.com.

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