City generators needed, will cost about $20 million

An inventory of generators and emergency backup power at fire and EMS stations has found the city is, indeed, lacking adequate resources to keep emergency services powered in the event of a blackout. Winter Storm Mara brought to light that many of the facilities were without power backup during the storm, and the recently completed survey drove that point home. The city’s Building Services Department found that 72 sites require new generators at an estimated cost of $20,521,000.

According to the memo from Building Services Department officer Darrell Alexander, “BSD will work with the City’s contracted vendor to ensure that we receive the generators as quickly as possible.”