Florida Power & Light conducts “staging site” training to prepare for storm season

Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) recently conducted a weeklong “staging site” training at the Pompano Park Racetrack in Pompano Beach, Florida in order to prepare employees to respond to weather events during the upcoming storm season.

During the training, more than 1,200 employees participated in damage briefings, performed assessments
of equipment, and demonstrated technologies used in the restoration process after a storm.

“This week’s staging site training is yet another visible demonstration of how FPL prepares year-round to safely and quickly restore power when a major event, such as a hurricane, impacts our customers’ lives,” Manny Miranda, senior vice president of power delivery for FPL, said. “This is one of the many ways our employees train for storm season, using a hands-on experience to test our power restoration plans.”

Pompano Park is one of 100 designated staging sites located across Florida. The sites give restoration crews a base to work from closer to the impacted areas. The sites operate like mini-cities and give workers a place to rest, eat, refuel and get supplies as they work to restore customers’ service.

During Hurricane Matthew last year, FPL opened 26 staging sites and supporting centers for its nearly 15,000-member restoration crew. FPL also deployed drones more than 130 times to survey damage in areas that were inaccessible after the storm. The restoration effort, the largest in the company’s history, restored power to almost 99 percent of affected customers by the end of two full days.

Since the 2004 and 2005 storm season, FPL has invested approximately $3 billion to strengthen the energy grid against severe weather by hardening main power lines, clearing vegetation, conducting inspections and installing smart technologies.

“We all must safeguard against complacency, particularly where it concerns hurricanes,” Miranda said. “At FPL, we’ve worked hard to put ourselves in the best possible position to respond to severe weather and we never stop working to improve. While we have made significant investments in our electric system, we know there still will be power outages following a major storm. Just as we continue to prepare and plan, we encourage our customers to do the same – make a storm plan now for their families and businesses.”