Storm & Security

FIELD / WORK Lesson Learned What a New York family did between superstorms to protect their security and comfort. "It left me feeling vulnerable, with a lack of control, and I never wanted to feel that way again." David Panzarella was on high alert when the power went out in his home and his family huddled around the fireplace for warmth. The extended power outage was because of the 2011 Frankenstorm, a hybrid of a tropical system and a Nor'easter that struck the East Coast in October. The leaves were still on the trees, but because of the extreme winds, when the snow fell, so did branches and power lines. Panzarella and his family—his wife, two young children and dog—live in Pearl River, NY, just up the Hudson River from New York City. The unseasonal snowstorm knocked out power to millions of people for nearly a week. A portion of those millions, including the Panzarella family, fled to hotels that still had power. Panzarella recalled that even that wasn't an easy task: "Everyone was looking for a hotel, and we had to look for one that allowed dogs." They stayed in a hotel 10 miles away for three days, eating takeout for every meal and struggling to keep things "normal." Not only did the storm shake up his personal life, it took its toll on his work life, too. Panzarella works from home as the director of imaging at a health care technology firm. In order to access the Internet and have space to work, Panzarella recalls, "I had to find a coffee shop that had power, or drive to my sister-in-law's house." After three days, the Panzarellas were told by the electric company to return home, and that the power would be restored shortly. They went back home only to endure three more days in the dark before the power came back on. In total, the family spent several thousand dollars on food and hotel room charges, but the real loss during the power outage was their peace of mind. Panzarella decided to do something to get that peace of mind back. Flawless Among the Chaos Panzarella contacted a local electrical service company—Rob Bello at Lightning Electric—and went through the process of purchasing and installing a home 22 Once the standby generator was installed, it was set to start up automatically to provide power to the home during outages. standby generator. A home standby generator hooks up to a home's natural gas line and is set up to automatically turn on and power all or portions of a house when the utility power goes out. He decided that a home standby generator was the solution to his family's problem, saying "It's all set up and clicks on when you need it the most. I didn't want to have to go out to the shed and hook up a portable generator when the power went out." Once Bello and his electricians installed the generator, a Generac Guardian Series 20kw generator, Panzarella was admittedly a little anxious about how it would respond. "I was nervous it would not work, but confident because Rob and his team knew what they were doing. They did a phenomenal job." A Generac home standby generator performs monthly tests on itself to ensure it is ready for any kind of outage. It kicked in within seconds for a few short outages, but the real test came in October 2012. Superstorm Sandy hit the northeast hard, causing billions of dollars in damage and knocking out power to more than 8 million people in 22 states, some for more than a week. In Panzarella's neighborhood, "there was chaos all around us, but our generator performed flawlessly." The STORM & SECURITY PROTECTION / PEOPLE IN THE KNOW 2013

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