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Speaker 1: It's night Sime with Dan Ray.

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Speaker 2: I'm telling you Boston's news radio.

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Speaker 3: Well, the blizzard of twenty twenty six is still winding

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Speaker 3: down and that will be the subject for our four

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Speaker 3: hours of conversation tonight. Wow, unbelievable, unbelievable snowstorm throughout the

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Speaker 3: entire northeast. We have a group of guests lined up tonight.

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Speaker 3: We will be taking phone calls, so if you'd like

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Speaker 3: to join us, please do feel free. You have the

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Speaker 3: numbers six, one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty six,

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Speaker 3: one seven, nine, three, one, ten thirty. We want to

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Speaker 3: hear all all of your problems that should teal with.

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Speaker 3: But we are going to start off tonight with getting

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Speaker 3: as much information as we can from some of the organization,

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Speaker 3: companies and businesses that we all rely upon and we

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Speaker 3: will have to rely upon in the next few days.

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Speaker 3: We're going to start off tonight with Doug Foley. Doug

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Speaker 3: is the president of ever Sources Massachusetts Electric Or Operations. Doug,

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Speaker 3: I know this has been a horrific day for everyone

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Speaker 3: in New England and certainly you have folks out there

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Speaker 3: working tonight. First of all, how do we stand at

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Speaker 3: this point? How many people are still in need of

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Speaker 3: getting their power restored.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, good evening, Dan, and you hit it right on

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Speaker 4: the head. This is certainly a historic blizzard for twenty

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Speaker 4: twenty six. We haven't seen this type of wind and snow.

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Speaker 4: The last I can remember was January of twenty twenty two.

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Speaker 4: So we certainly crews and our teams have our work

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Speaker 4: cut out for us, for sure. But to answer your question,

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Speaker 4: you know, I think we were still taking some image Dan,

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Speaker 4: as the forecast has shown, the recent forecast, the storm

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Speaker 4: continues to move out here. We are in our public

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Speaker 4: safety stage, you know, our focus as our crews can

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Speaker 4: get around. It's been very difficult traveling as you know

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Speaker 4: referenced and you'll probably hear tonight. But our ability for

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Speaker 4: our crews to get around and just work with the

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Speaker 4: first responders and the DPW's clarinary tree limbs and wires

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Speaker 4: that are down, that's been our priority today.

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Speaker 3: Dan, minderstanding is that right now you have about one

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Speaker 3: thousand personnel tree and service crews are out lot ever

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Speaker 3: Swiss Line individuals. I mean, this has to be a

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Speaker 3: huge undertaking and one that we haven't seen in these

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Speaker 3: parts in many years.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, you're absolutely right. Our planning sided you know, days

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Speaker 4: before this weekend. We continue to monitor the forecast and

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Speaker 4: Saturday and Sunday this weekend as the forecast we're aligning itself.

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Speaker 4: We made commitments to bring resources in the area yesterday,

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Speaker 4: both our internal and our external contractors. We brought external

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Speaker 4: contractors in from Canada, Detroit and all the New England

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Speaker 4: states and we pre positioned those resources in the communities

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Speaker 4: at the hotels yesterday afternoon because of the amount of

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Speaker 4: predicted snow levels, and they certainly did materialize. They there

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Speaker 4: are a lot longer, a lot more snow levels than

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Speaker 4: what was forecasted. But that allows us to get our

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Speaker 4: storm centers open up yesterday afternoon and preposition those crews

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Speaker 4: so they could do their thing this morning.

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Speaker 3: So normally in a storm like this, whether it's a

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Speaker 3: winter storm or storm during the summertime, a hurricane, you

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Speaker 3: can rely upon help from New York, Connecticut, maybe New Hampshire, Pennsylvania.

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Speaker 3: But all of those states are themselves impacted. Where did

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Speaker 3: you have to go to to get additional help? What?

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Speaker 1: What?

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Speaker 3: What areas were cooperative? Let's give them a shout out.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I would, I would, I would say other utilities

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Speaker 4: up and down the East coast, you know, based on

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Speaker 4: this this historic storm. You know, I had been planning

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Speaker 4: for days, and you know, many of these utilities have

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Speaker 4: resources like we have, but we rely on other utilities

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Speaker 4: and our contractor patterns to be available to help out.

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Speaker 4: So our relationships span across the United States, but Canada

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Speaker 4: has always there to help help us. They're a day

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Speaker 4: away and we were able to bring them in Sunday

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Speaker 4: afternoon and get them here.

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Speaker 3: Now, just roughly, I know that most of the outage,

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Speaker 3: from what I understand, is in the southeast corner of

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Speaker 3: the state of the state. Can you give us, just

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Speaker 3: roughly some idea about the number of outages you were

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Speaker 3: dealing with and has it peaked at this point, are

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Speaker 3: they still likely to go up? And what is the

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Speaker 3: best case scenario? What's the worst case scenario? That you know,

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Speaker 3: people are going to have to be patient on this

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Speaker 3: one because there's so many people who are in need

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Speaker 3: of some assistance. Yeah.

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Speaker 4: So currently right now, Dan, we're at about two hundred

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Speaker 4: and thirty nine thousand customers out We're pretty much approaching

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Speaker 4: the peak. As I mentioned earlier, we are seeing some damage,

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Speaker 4: but it is it is trending down and I don't

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Speaker 4: expect it to tick back up. The good news is

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Speaker 4: the Metro West area, Metro Boston area and also Weston

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Speaker 4: mass performed.

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Speaker 5: Very very well.

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Speaker 4: So majority of our outages are around the coastal areas,

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Speaker 4: so the Cape Cod area for about one hundred and

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Speaker 4: fifty hundred and sixty thousand customers out and the Plumouth

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Speaker 4: New Bedford area mostly in the Plymouth area, we're about

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Speaker 4: sixty thousand customers right now.

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Speaker 3: Okay, So the good news there is that you don't

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Speaker 3: have to travel great distances. As people come back up online,

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Speaker 3: what's the estimate and I know it's tough. The weather

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Speaker 3: forecast I know for the next couple of days is okay,

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Speaker 3: what's the worst case scenario and what's the best case scenario.

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Speaker 3: Have there been some people who have had power restored today?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, So since the beginning of the storm, we've restored

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Speaker 4: one hundred and twenty nine thousand customers. We've been able

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Speaker 4: to restore those customers utilizing some of our remote switching,

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Speaker 4: our radio control switching from our control centers and then

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Speaker 4: also the crews today we're able to get some of

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Speaker 4: that load picked up as well.

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Speaker 3: So that's during the storm. During the height of the storm,

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Speaker 3: there were about one hundred and twenty nine thousand people

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Speaker 3: who were restored. That's that's a about half the amount

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Speaker 3: of the people who are still out. So you're telling

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Speaker 3: me one hundred and twenty nine have been restored, two

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Speaker 3: hundred and thirty nine are still out. Give us your best,

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Speaker 3: guest amate again. I want, I don't want to press you,

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Speaker 3: but I'm just this could be a few days. I mean,

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Speaker 3: particularly the stuff on the cape. You're not going to

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Speaker 3: be able to bring everybody back with it twenty four hours,

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Speaker 3: I assume. Yeah.

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Speaker 4: No, it's a multi day, multi day event for sure, Dan,

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Speaker 4: And due to the very difficult conditions, it's been challenging

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Speaker 4: to see just what type of damage we've had getting

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Speaker 4: our line cruise. As I mentioned, just focusing on public

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Speaker 4: safety down wise, opening up the road so the DPW

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Speaker 4: could do the work, but the blizzard conditions made it very,

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Speaker 4: very challenging Tomorrow and tonight, so the restoration will continue

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Speaker 4: through the evening, but we have a robust plan tomorrow.

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Speaker 4: We have the thousand resources that you mentioned. We'll have

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Speaker 4: our DA folks out at first light tomorrow, patrolling in

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Speaker 4: parallel with restoration cruise and as you know, Dan, ever

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Speaker 4: source operates in Connecticut in New Hampshire, so we have

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Speaker 4: some plans we'll be moving in some resources today from

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Speaker 4: New Hampshire, probably another one hundred crews and support staff

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Speaker 4: and then cruise from western mass from the Springfield area

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Speaker 4: are all traveling tonight, so tomorrow morning we're going to

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Speaker 4: add to that resource that we prestaged.

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Speaker 3: Well, look, I appreciate your optimism, also your willingness to

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Speaker 3: come out. As always you folks, always clear, remind customers

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Speaker 3: stay clear of any down wires, report them to nine

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Speaker 3: to one pint one. Be careful during the storm cleanup.

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Speaker 3: And if people want to report outages, the number I

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Speaker 3: have is eight hundred and five nine two two thousand

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Speaker 3: in eastern Massachusetts. Doug Foley, thanks very much. It's been

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Speaker 3: a long day. I appreciate you taking the time and

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Speaker 3: talking with me and with my listeners tonight.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, thank you, Dan, thank you for the opportunity to

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Speaker 4: speak with you tonight.

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Speaker 3: You're very welcome. When we get back, going to talk

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Speaker 3: about transportation the roads in Massachusetts. Jonathan Jonathan Gulliver. I

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Speaker 3: think he's become a familiar face to most of you.

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Speaker 3: He will join us. He rears a couple of hats.

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Speaker 3: He's the Undersecretary of Transportation and State Highway Administrator. He's

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Speaker 3: going to just tell us what the current road conditions are,

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Speaker 3: and I know that some of them are pretty tough.

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Speaker 3: But we'll be back with Jonathan Gulliver of the Massachusetts

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Speaker 3: Department of Transportation State Highway Administrator right after this quick break.

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Speaker 2: You're on Nightside with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's news radio.

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Speaker 3: All right, welcome back everybody. We're now talking with Massachusetts

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Speaker 3: Department of Transportation Undersecretary of Transportation as well as State

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Speaker 3: Highway Commissioner Jonathan Gulliver. Jonathan, has been a tough day

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Speaker 3: on the roads here in Massachusetts. Can you give us

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Speaker 3: a view from thirty thousand feet just to start off.

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Speaker 3: Welcome back to Nightside.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, thank you for having me, Dan.

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Speaker 1: This was a very, very tough storm.

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Speaker 6: I can tell you I've been doing this a long time.

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Speaker 6: This is the hardest storm I can remember dealing with

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Speaker 6: in probably the last ten to fifteen years at least.

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Speaker 6: This was a really difficult one. It came in really

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Speaker 6: really intense. If you were somebody that was on the

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Speaker 6: South Shore today, you saw snowfall rates that I can't

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Speaker 6: ever recall seeing, like for four five six inches an hour.

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Speaker 6: That was incredibly hard to keep up with. So this

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Speaker 6: has been really difficult. It's just wrapping up now on

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Speaker 6: the South Shore, where we are in good shape through

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Speaker 6: most of our state right now, down to bear pavements

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Speaker 6: throughout pretty much the western part of the state, and

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Speaker 6: we're getting pretty close everywhere else north of basically Cape

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Speaker 6: cod and I expect by tomorrow morning we'll be there

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Speaker 6: as well too, But we have a lot of work

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Speaker 6: to do still. There's going to be a lot of

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Speaker 6: digging out to go.

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Speaker 3: So what are we talking about realistically in terms of

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Speaker 3: I mean, your job is the roads. You got trees down,

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Speaker 3: you got power lines down. Those have to be incredible complications.

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Speaker 3: If we're just simply plowing the roads. I'm sure you

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Speaker 3: could put it into a computer and figure out when

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Speaker 3: the roads would be plowed once the snow stops. Explain

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Speaker 3: to people so they understand the complications that that not

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Speaker 3: only impact you guys, but they also impact the power companies.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, they impact everybody.

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Speaker 6: This is when you when you have a storm like this, especially,

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Speaker 6: it is it's incredibly complicated road debris, stranded motorists. There

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Speaker 6: was a few of those that we had to deal

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Speaker 6: with today. And then again the snowfall rate combined with

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Speaker 6: the wind which which really cut down visibility at points

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Speaker 6: to zero. That makes it really really tough for our

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Speaker 6: people to be on to be out there taking care

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Speaker 6: of the roads.

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Speaker 1: So they do a great job.

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Speaker 6: You know, I don't think a lot of people appreciate

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Speaker 6: how much work our our team does throughout the year

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Speaker 6: for emergency response to whether it's it's one of the

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Speaker 6: big things that we do, whether it's helping a community

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Speaker 6: get out of a tornado or like for example, the

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Speaker 6: Lawrence gas explosions, those are someplace where we're front and

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Speaker 6: center on and it's it's a big part.

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Speaker 1: Of our job.

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Speaker 6: Snow and ice is one of those things that we

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Speaker 6: as a as I've said a few times today to people,

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Speaker 6: it is not something that we do as a sideline.

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Speaker 1: We have people their.

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Speaker 6: Job year round is snow and ice, you know, July

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Speaker 6: and August, when when everybody's thinking warm weather, we have

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Speaker 6: guys who are dissecting the last season storm and.

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Speaker 1: Worrying about what we're going to do next year.

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Speaker 6: And it means that our guys are really ready for it.

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Speaker 6: It's it's a it's a complicated program. It's not it's

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Speaker 6: not just a couple of guys jumping on a truck

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Speaker 6: and driving around. These are there's a lot of technology

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Speaker 6: behind it. The all of these trucks have GPS, We

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Speaker 6: have roadside weather information systems that give us real time

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Speaker 6: data what's going on on those roads so we can

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Speaker 6: redeploy resources. And it's a it's a pretty pretty big, complicated,

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Speaker 6: uh operation that our team does just a phenomenal job on.

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Speaker 3: I watched a lot of the newscast throughout the day

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Speaker 3: and the live television reports and even tonight, I think,

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Speaker 3: and again there was so much information Jonathan that there

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Speaker 3: was at least I don't know, hundreds of cars that

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Speaker 3: had gone off the road. I think it was Route

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Speaker 3: three South, you know, obviously the road that runs from

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Speaker 3: the bottom of one twenty eight down you know, through

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Speaker 3: the south Shore and eventually onto Cape Cod. That sounded

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Speaker 3: like a real mess down there. Your road. I don't know,

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Speaker 3: RUTH three is a state road, No, I assume, no question.

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Speaker 1: Correct, absolutely, yep. Six.

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Speaker 6: They were tough and it's one of the reasons you

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Speaker 6: know that the governor put in place yesterday a state

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Speaker 6: of emergency, and initially we decided, you know, we're going

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Speaker 6: to really strongly message to stay off the roads, and

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Speaker 6: people have generally been cooperative with that for the last

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Speaker 6: few years, and they were this time too. I think

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Speaker 6: by and large we did not have that many people

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Speaker 6: on the road, but the conditions just became so so

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Speaker 6: bad on the South short today that m cape God

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Speaker 6: that we really felt like we had to take.

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Speaker 1: It a step further, and.

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Speaker 6: The governor issued a total travel ban at one point

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Speaker 6: earlier in the afternoon. That's actually still in place because

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Speaker 6: we have so much work to do to get dug

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Speaker 6: out still, but that was instrumental in really getting people

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Speaker 6: off the road. It was so bad at one point that,

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Speaker 6: you know, when cars become stranded, we couldn't even get

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Speaker 6: to them to help them out, and people had to

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Speaker 6: wait a lot longer than they normally would have. So

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Speaker 6: it was again some of the worst conditions I've ever

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Speaker 6: seen in the shop.

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Speaker 3: I don't know that you were working around, but maybe

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Speaker 3: you remember nineteen seventy eight there were a lot of

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Speaker 3: cars that were stranded on one eight, and there were

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Speaker 3: people who were banned to the cars. I don't believe

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Speaker 3: it got to that point today, but it had to

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Speaker 3: be moving in the direction in some locations.

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Speaker 6: It definitely had that potential. Again, there weren't that people

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Speaker 6: on the road. There was enough to be problematic, but

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Speaker 6: there wasn't. It wasn't like it was in seventy eight

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Speaker 6: where you had where it caught everybody by surprise. You know,

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Speaker 6: I think the forecasting is much much better now than

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Speaker 6: it was back then. So we definitely saw this coming

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Speaker 6: and put the right warnings in place, and you know,

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Speaker 6: the team just did a tremendous job making sure this

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Speaker 6: was well managed. But you know, we've been cautioning people

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Speaker 6: for the last couple of days and this is this

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Speaker 6: is going to be true. There's a lot of work

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Speaker 6: to do. Even though the roadways are going to be

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Speaker 6: in good shape on the highways, local roads and the

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Speaker 6: secondary roads are going to take a lot more cleanup.

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Speaker 6: We need to remove that snow. There's too much of

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Speaker 6: it there now. You can't just push it off to

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Speaker 6: the side without constraining those roadways. So we are going

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Speaker 6: to be in a clean up operation. You're going to

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Speaker 6: be seeing equipment out there for at least a week,

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Speaker 6: moving that snow someplace else.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so you're getting in my last couple of questions,

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Speaker 3: and your crews have been out in some cases now

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Speaker 3: nearly twenty four hours. Yeah, at what point do they

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Speaker 3: have to get some rest? I assume do you ramp

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Speaker 3: up overnight or do you have replacement people coming in tonight?

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Speaker 3: What's going on between now and dawn and what happens?

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Speaker 3: And maybe it's not efficient to work from you know,

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Speaker 3: from this hour, eight twenty five at night till dawn

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Speaker 3: the cruise a little down because I'm sure later on

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Speaker 3: tonight people go say, oh it is out of the roads.

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Speaker 3: I didn't see any cruise. What's the status right now?

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Speaker 3: And when does it ramp up or is it just

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Speaker 3: going to stay ramped up overnight?

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Speaker 6: So we are rotating people in and out right now.

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Speaker 6: You know a lot of these guys, as you said,

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Speaker 6: they've been on for twenty four hours. We brought in

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Speaker 6: most of our cruise around eight pm last night and

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Speaker 6: overnight ramped up as we needed to, and we've been

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Speaker 6: in a full call out since very early this morning,

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Speaker 6: probably around three am, if I we call correctly, is.

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Speaker 1: When we hit about the three thousand.

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Speaker 6: Mark, which is, which is the max call out for us.

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Speaker 6: We've been rotating cruis out and bringing some and sending

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Speaker 6: some home as we're downsizing, especially in the western part

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Speaker 6: of the state. Tomorrow morning, after everybody's fresh, we're going

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Speaker 6: to be bringing some more people back in and we're

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Speaker 6: going to be in this removal operation. We're working with

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Speaker 6: a lot of cities in towns right now that that

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Speaker 6: that got into trouble with this storm, and we're going

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Speaker 6: to be working to try to dig them out and

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Speaker 6: get things back up and running as quickly as we can.

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Speaker 6: We've we've redeployed a lot of our resources from elsewhere

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Speaker 6: in the state now down to the Cape and were

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Speaker 6: that that's going to continue again for quite a while

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Speaker 6: until we get this that's completely wrapped up, which I

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Speaker 6: expect is really going to be you know, probably about

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Speaker 6: a week or so before we're fully fully cleaned up.

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Speaker 6: The roads will be passable, they'll be safe, but we

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Speaker 6: want to get that snow out of there. We want

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Speaker 6: to open up those site lines. We want to make

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Speaker 6: it as safe as we possibly can, So it's going

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Speaker 6: to take more work to do.

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Speaker 3: Is the weather forecast in the next couple of days

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Speaker 3: going to help it all or is this just so much,

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Speaker 3: so much snow unless the moment it went up to

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Speaker 3: sixty five or seventy's not going to have much of

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Speaker 3: an impact.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, it's gonna it's it's it's not going to hurt.

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Speaker 6: But it's not I'd say it's not. It's not warm

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Speaker 6: enough that it's all going to melt away. We're gonna

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Speaker 6: I think, I think I saw that it's going to

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Speaker 6: hit forty maybe even maybe even upper forties later this week,

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Speaker 6: another week. We're expecting a little bit of snow on Wednesday,

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Speaker 6: even overnight. Not not too much from the last what

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Speaker 6: I last saw, but uh yeah, I think I think

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Speaker 6: with the volume snow, most places already at a foot

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Speaker 6: on the ground.

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Speaker 1: They got it again, and they.

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Speaker 6: Got three feet in areas on the Cape right now

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Speaker 6: that that came in, and you know, on on South Shore,

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Speaker 6: and when you get that much snow, there's just no

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Speaker 6: place to put it. So they're going to be removing that.

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Speaker 6: We talk it out, we create a snow farm, let

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Speaker 6: it melt off on its own a little bit, and

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Speaker 6: you'll you'll see a few of these gigantic piles of

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Speaker 6: snow all over the state.

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Speaker 3: After this one and last last question, and that is,

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Speaker 3: I know you really can't look at a budget item

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Speaker 3: here because this has got to be done, But is

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Speaker 3: there enough money in the budget roughly to deal with

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Speaker 3: all of this is going to be a very expensive proposition.

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Speaker 6: This is this is going to be an extensive storm.

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Speaker 6: It's too early to say exactly how much we do

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Speaker 6: have the ability. The legislature gives a special permission when

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Speaker 6: it comes to snow storms to overspend our budget and

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Speaker 6: then then we'll go through this supplemental budget process with

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Speaker 6: them later this year. And we've already gone past that point,

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Speaker 6: so we're into a supplemental budget standpoint. We were there

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Speaker 6: with the last storm, so we have a ways to go.

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Speaker 3: Wow, Jonathan, thank you so much. The Massachusetts Undersecretary of

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Speaker 3: Transportation State Highway Administrator, Jonathan Caliver. What I love about you,

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Speaker 3: Jonathan is whatever the question is, you'll give us an

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Speaker 3: honest answer, and you give it to us straight. You're

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Speaker 3: weren't guilt of the lily on is tonight, That's for sure.

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Speaker 3: Thank you so much. Okay, all right, best of luck,

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Speaker 3: gets some rest, rest, appreciate, Thank you all right. On

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Speaker 3: the other side of the news, at the bottom of

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Speaker 3: the hour, we're going to talk with Massachusetts State Police

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Speaker 3: Major Ed Blackwell. He happens to be the guy who

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Speaker 3: runs what's called Troop D in the Massachusetts State Police,

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Speaker 3: which is essentially the Cape, the Islands, and a good

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Speaker 3: portion of the South Shore. So he is in the

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Speaker 3: eye of the storm and will get his perspective. Again.

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Speaker 3: We're focusing a lot of what happened in the southeast

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Speaker 3: corner of the state, a lot of snow and a

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Speaker 3: lot of other places, but the southeast corner of the

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Speaker 3: state is the problem area. We'll be back on Nightside

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Speaker 3: right after the news at the bottom of the hour.

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Speaker 2: You're on Nightside with Dan Ray on wz Boston's News Radio.

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Speaker 3: Delighted to be joined by Major Ed Blackwell. Edward Blackbell

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Speaker 3: of the Massachusetts State Police. Major black Bell. Blackwell is

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Speaker 3: in charge of a very important State Police barracks right now,

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Speaker 3: and that is the Troop D Barracks, which represents the

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Speaker 3: Cape as well as Plymouth and Bristol County. You were

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Speaker 3: at the eye of the storm. Major, How are you tonight?

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Speaker 1: Dan?

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Speaker 7: I'm very well, thank you, and yes, it's been a

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Speaker 7: very busy day for the State Police. And Troop D.

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Speaker 3: Gotta tell you, just for people who are not familiar

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Speaker 3: with the nomenclature Troop D. I said it was Plymouth, Bristol, Cape,

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Speaker 3: in the Islands, Duke's County as well, you got you

394
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Speaker 3: got what the Vineyard, Nantucket, the entire cape as well

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Speaker 3: as Bristol and Plymouth County.

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Speaker 7: Yes, our over sixty communities make up the troop.

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Speaker 3: Okay, ed, was this the worst weather day that you

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Speaker 3: have ever experienced? And I mean that in all honesty.

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Speaker 3: I can't think of another individual day which had such

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Speaker 3: a concentrated impact on one part of the state.

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Speaker 7: No, undoubtedly, Dan. In my thirty years of being a

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Speaker 7: police officer, Serry, I I've never experienced what we did today,

403
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Speaker 7: just the you know, we were challenged by the rapid accumulation

404
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Speaker 7: of snow, the high winds made at a blizzard and

405
00:22:01,080 --> 00:22:05,520
Speaker 7: in the drifting snow. The conditions were nothing I've ever

406
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Speaker 7: seen before.

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Speaker 3: What how do you dig yourself out of this? I mean,

408
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Speaker 3: first of all, are you bringing state police offices in

409
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Speaker 3: from other areas. Let's just talk from a mean power

410
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Speaker 3: point of view. You had people who have been working

411
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Speaker 3: now I assume for the better part of twenty four hours.

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Speaker 3: If not twenty four hours, how do you get.

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Speaker 1: Back to break?

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Speaker 7: Yes, sir, that's one of my things I have to

415
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Speaker 7: juggle the most, is make sure I have people out

416
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Speaker 7: there to answer the calls and at the same time

417
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Speaker 7: make sure they're well rested. So we started this morning

418
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Speaker 7: at five am. We called an our day shift early

419
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Speaker 7: and that brought us up to double what we'd usually

420
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Speaker 7: have in the troop. And just now that day shift

421
00:22:45,280 --> 00:22:47,720
Speaker 7: is just getting released as I have my midshift coming

422
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Speaker 7: in early now to take up the slack and continue

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Speaker 7: to answer calls for service, so.

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Speaker 3: The day shift will get a break. Now you say

425
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Speaker 3: the mid midshift the night shift, it used to be

426
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Speaker 3: like eleven to seven is is that what you call

427
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Speaker 3: the midshift at this point?

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Speaker 7: That's correct, But it's not eleven to seven tonight. It's

429
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Speaker 7: nine to seven.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I got it, okay, And you'll hold them for

431
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Speaker 3: a little bit tomorrow and then bring the day shift

432
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Speaker 3: the first half in a little early. Give us, give

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Speaker 3: us the strategy. People probably don't understand the idea of

434
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Speaker 3: the three shifts that have to cover. I know it's

435
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Speaker 3: you know, it's not nomenclature that the average person. Why

436
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Speaker 3: don't you break it down so people understand it, if

437
00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:36,600
Speaker 3: you'd be so kind.

438
00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:39,600
Speaker 7: Sure, Usually we have a day shift that works seven

439
00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:42,800
Speaker 7: to three thirty. At three o'clock, our evening shift would

440
00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:45,159
Speaker 7: come in and they'd work three to eleven thirty pm,

441
00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:48,040
Speaker 7: and then at eleven pm we shift that goes till

442
00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:50,919
Speaker 7: seven thirty in the morning. So just with the extraordinary

443
00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:53,159
Speaker 7: cous of service in the storm, like I said, we

444
00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:55,760
Speaker 7: call them the day shift two hours early, and we're

445
00:23:55,760 --> 00:23:58,679
Speaker 7: actually just releasing them as we speak, and as I

446
00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:01,160
Speaker 7: have my people that would usually you doing at eleven

447
00:24:01,200 --> 00:24:03,600
Speaker 7: o'clock tonight, coming at nine o'clock to night to go

448
00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:05,960
Speaker 7: out and cover the roads and the extraordinary calls of

449
00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:06,840
Speaker 7: service we're having.

450
00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:11,480
Speaker 3: Okay, So give us an idea. In a normal course

451
00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:16,520
Speaker 3: of the day, there's there's calls for state police activity,

452
00:24:16,560 --> 00:24:20,119
Speaker 3: whether it's a well being checked, domestic violence, whatever the

453
00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:23,840
Speaker 3: calls are. The local police departments needs some backup. So

454
00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:27,760
Speaker 3: you have your normal sets of calls today. But now

455
00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:30,840
Speaker 3: in addition to this, you've got cars on the roads,

456
00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:41,000
Speaker 3: you got trees down, tree limbs down, wires down. How

457
00:24:41,040 --> 00:24:44,320
Speaker 3: do you handle all that? In all of it? You know,

458
00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:47,199
Speaker 3: landing on your doorstep. And I mean that's seriously. I

459
00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:50,879
Speaker 3: think most people they see one police officer and they say, okay,

460
00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:52,960
Speaker 3: well he's just riding somewhere. They don't know where he's

461
00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:57,000
Speaker 3: headed or she's headed. So give us a sense of

462
00:24:57,040 --> 00:25:01,920
Speaker 3: how complicating this particular storm was on this particular day

463
00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:05,200
Speaker 3: for you and the men and women under your command.

464
00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:11,000
Speaker 7: Sure today, you know such the high cost of service,

465
00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:12,359
Speaker 7: and the biggest challenge to get to a call for

466
00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:14,400
Speaker 7: service is obviously when someone calls the help, we want

467
00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:17,120
Speaker 7: to be there as quickly as possible, and that's very

468
00:25:17,119 --> 00:25:19,320
Speaker 7: difficult to do when you have the white out conditions

469
00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:22,600
Speaker 7: we had today. So thankfully, with the extra manpower we had,

470
00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:25,720
Speaker 7: we did have enough troopers out there to respond to

471
00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:29,960
Speaker 7: calls quickly and get unseen as quick as we could

472
00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:33,159
Speaker 7: and respond to those calls for help. The problem was

473
00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:35,480
Speaker 7: the white out conditions and the drifting snow. And you know,

474
00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:37,480
Speaker 7: our partners from Master to ut or all they're doing

475
00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:40,600
Speaker 7: a great job with their plows, but with the drifts,

476
00:25:41,280 --> 00:25:43,040
Speaker 7: one plow could pass and ten minutes later the ramp

477
00:25:43,040 --> 00:25:46,359
Speaker 7: could be covered again. And that was the biggest challenge

478
00:25:46,400 --> 00:25:48,280
Speaker 7: we had during this storm. And it continues right now,

479
00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:52,800
Speaker 7: it's just vehicles getting caught on and off ramps and

480
00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:56,080
Speaker 7: they block that ramp, and everably we get even snowplows

481
00:25:56,119 --> 00:25:59,639
Speaker 7: stuck behind those vehicles, and now we need heavy equipment

482
00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:01,520
Speaker 7: to get them out. And at this hour that's what

483
00:26:01,560 --> 00:26:03,320
Speaker 7: we have. Now we have mass ut out there with

484
00:26:03,359 --> 00:26:06,720
Speaker 7: heavy equipment still unblocking a lot of those ramps.

485
00:26:07,359 --> 00:26:09,359
Speaker 3: My understanding is that Ruth three, and of course you

486
00:26:09,359 --> 00:26:11,360
Speaker 3: don't cover the entirety of Ruth three, but you got

487
00:26:11,359 --> 00:26:13,800
Speaker 3: you've got a pretty good chunk of Ruth three heading

488
00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:17,040
Speaker 3: towards the Cape bridges and four ninety five. I mean,

489
00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:20,360
Speaker 3: that's all your that is all your territory. I heard

490
00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:24,640
Speaker 3: that those roads today were at different times absolutely impassable.

491
00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:26,600
Speaker 1: They were.

492
00:26:27,080 --> 00:26:29,800
Speaker 7: Ruth three was a challenge my ear's Doots and Wayne,

493
00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:31,960
Speaker 7: but then goes south all the way down to Root six,

494
00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:36,000
Speaker 7: over the bridges and throughout the Cape, those were challenging times.

495
00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:38,560
Speaker 7: And even more so Dan. Where we really saw it

496
00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:40,440
Speaker 7: is in the Bristol County and the taunt and rain

497
00:26:40,560 --> 00:26:43,480
Speaker 7: on the Roote four nine twenty four area. That's where

498
00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:46,240
Speaker 7: we saw over thirty inches of snow and that's where

499
00:26:46,600 --> 00:26:49,200
Speaker 7: even as quick as the plows could come, the snow

500
00:26:49,240 --> 00:26:50,240
Speaker 7: could fall faster.

501
00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:55,119
Speaker 3: And the plan for tomorrow. What can people on the

502
00:26:55,160 --> 00:26:57,920
Speaker 3: Cape do, or people who live in the South Shore,

503
00:26:58,320 --> 00:27:00,320
Speaker 3: what they can What can they do to me more

504
00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:03,119
Speaker 3: to stay out of your way, because I hope that

505
00:27:03,440 --> 00:27:07,919
Speaker 3: a lot of businesses are staying closed because people. In

506
00:27:07,960 --> 00:27:10,480
Speaker 3: my opinion, I'm not the governor, it seems to me

507
00:27:10,600 --> 00:27:14,400
Speaker 3: that this storm is such that I don't know. Has

508
00:27:14,440 --> 00:27:16,760
Speaker 3: the governor said anything about travel on the Cape and

509
00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:17,920
Speaker 3: in the South Shore tomorrow?

510
00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:22,720
Speaker 7: Yes, So while the governor has lifted the state of emergency,

511
00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:26,000
Speaker 7: she also put in the travel ban, and that travel

512
00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:31,239
Speaker 7: band covers Bristol, Barnstable, Plymouth and Duke Counties. So I

513
00:27:31,280 --> 00:27:34,520
Speaker 7: asked for the publice cooperation and obeying that travel ban

514
00:27:34,760 --> 00:27:37,240
Speaker 7: and staying off the roads so we can join with

515
00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:40,639
Speaker 7: our partners at the DOT and get these roadways cleared,

516
00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:43,320
Speaker 7: the snow banks pushed back and all these ramps open.

517
00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:46,880
Speaker 7: In addition to that, we still have fifty to one

518
00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:51,520
Speaker 7: hundred motor vehicles that were stranded, became stuck in the snow,

519
00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:54,760
Speaker 7: drifted off the road into a snowbank. And while our

520
00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:57,240
Speaker 7: tow service providers did the best to answer the cost

521
00:27:57,280 --> 00:28:00,680
Speaker 7: of service. They're backlogged as well, and we're working at

522
00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:03,280
Speaker 7: this moment now to clear all those disabled motor vehicles

523
00:28:03,320 --> 00:28:06,439
Speaker 7: off the roadways. So my ask for your audience is

524
00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:10,000
Speaker 7: to please, if you're in those counties, obey the travel

525
00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:12,400
Speaker 7: ban and let us work with the UT and get

526
00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:15,439
Speaker 7: these roads open and clear so it's safe to travel

527
00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:16,240
Speaker 7: and the days to come.

528
00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:20,119
Speaker 3: Okay, when you refer to a travel ban that means

529
00:28:20,400 --> 00:28:23,840
Speaker 3: don't go to work, don't go to school, don't go shopping,

530
00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:27,440
Speaker 3: stay off the roads on lists, it is an absolute emergency.

531
00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:29,760
Speaker 3: Is that how I would interpret and how my audience

532
00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:30,959
Speaker 3: should interpret a travel ban?

533
00:28:32,040 --> 00:28:36,159
Speaker 7: That is exactly correct unless you're a essential worker. You know,

534
00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:39,120
Speaker 7: obviously we need doctors and nurses and other essential workers

535
00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:41,360
Speaker 7: to get to work. We certainly understand they're going to

536
00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:42,960
Speaker 7: be traveling, and when they do, we ask that they

537
00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:45,520
Speaker 7: use extreme caution. But if you do not need to

538
00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:48,200
Speaker 7: be in the road, you are subject to that travel

539
00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:51,280
Speaker 7: ban and subject to fines if you do go on

540
00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:51,680
Speaker 7: the road.

541
00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:56,960
Speaker 3: Yeah. So I've heard of some people being pulled over

542
00:28:57,040 --> 00:29:00,280
Speaker 3: today and informed and the question is what are you

543
00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:03,080
Speaker 3: doing out? And if it's I'm out to see the snow,

544
00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:07,600
Speaker 3: get ready to get it, get some sort of a

545
00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:10,200
Speaker 3: penalty or refined for real correct.

546
00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:13,280
Speaker 7: Absolutely, as a couple of avenues the stapleice used to

547
00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:15,080
Speaker 7: enforce that band, and one of them is up to

548
00:29:15,120 --> 00:29:19,200
Speaker 7: five hundred dollars for ignoying executive orders. So again I

549
00:29:19,320 --> 00:29:21,800
Speaker 7: strongly I ask for the public cooperation and at the

550
00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:25,080
Speaker 7: same time warn them that if they're out unnecessarily the

551
00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:26,920
Speaker 7: subject to that five dollar fine.

552
00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:30,440
Speaker 3: Great. I think the character the stick approach is very important,

553
00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:32,800
Speaker 3: particularly in view of the situation you folks have been

554
00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:35,880
Speaker 3: dealing with Major ed Blackwell, thank you very much for

555
00:29:35,920 --> 00:29:39,200
Speaker 3: your time tonight. You explained it perfectly clearly. So there's

556
00:29:39,320 --> 00:29:42,040
Speaker 3: no question in the minds of anyone who listened to

557
00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:46,480
Speaker 3: this interview as to what their their their their action

558
00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:50,160
Speaker 3: is expected to be tomorrow. And then if you get

559
00:29:50,240 --> 00:29:55,480
Speaker 3: cooperation tomorrow, it might be u It may be okay

560
00:29:55,520 --> 00:29:57,680
Speaker 3: to travel on Wednesday, but if you don't gay cooperation,

561
00:29:58,200 --> 00:29:59,880
Speaker 3: I guess it could be extended another day.

562
00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:01,800
Speaker 5: That's exactly right.

563
00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:04,640
Speaker 7: We're gonna be working throughout the night, be working tomorrow

564
00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:06,440
Speaker 7: day and tell the lead to get these roads open.

565
00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:08,360
Speaker 7: And all these cars are moved, and I'm hopeful for

566
00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:10,640
Speaker 7: Wednesday we can have a normal commuting day.

567
00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:15,720
Speaker 3: Major Ed Blackwell, the Massachusetts State Police, I do very

568
00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:19,040
Speaker 3: much appreciate. He is the commander of D Troop D,

569
00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:21,320
Speaker 3: which is down of the Cape, as well as Plymouth

570
00:30:21,360 --> 00:30:25,680
Speaker 3: and Bristol Collegue. Major Blackwell, thank you very much. My

571
00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:26,600
Speaker 3: brother says.

572
00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:28,680
Speaker 7: Hello, he's a good man.

573
00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:31,840
Speaker 3: Thank you, Dan, thanks very much, thanks very very much. Well,

574
00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:34,600
Speaker 3: he's probably heard the interview when we get back, when

575
00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:38,560
Speaker 3: we're talking with Christopher Laird. He is the chief operating

576
00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:43,600
Speaker 3: officer for National Grid New England Electric. Later on we'll

577
00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:46,560
Speaker 3: get you a spokesperson for the MBTA, actually the chief

578
00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:49,160
Speaker 3: operating officer of the MBTA and the nine o'clock hour,

579
00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:52,640
Speaker 3: as well as Boston Globe meteorologist Ken Mahon. And in

580
00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:55,840
Speaker 3: indifferent and in addition, we're gonna give out some night

581
00:30:55,920 --> 00:31:00,640
Speaker 3: Side t shirts to people who can tell some relatively

582
00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:05,040
Speaker 3: pleasant stories from today. I know it's not been a

583
00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:08,200
Speaker 3: very pleasant day, but I'd like to spend some time

584
00:31:08,240 --> 00:31:13,120
Speaker 3: tonight looking back on this day as to some people

585
00:31:13,120 --> 00:31:15,920
Speaker 3: who did good things. We'll explain as the evening goes on.

586
00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:18,719
Speaker 3: My name is Dan Ray, and this is Nightside on

587
00:31:18,760 --> 00:31:22,000
Speaker 3: an extraordinary Monday night and night we will never forget

588
00:31:22,280 --> 00:31:26,840
Speaker 3: Monday Night, February twenty third, twenty and twenty six, the

589
00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:31,200
Speaker 3: blizzard of twenty six. Back on Nightside after the break.

590
00:31:31,960 --> 00:31:37,600
Speaker 2: It's Nightside with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.

591
00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:42,560
Speaker 3: Well, there's a lot of customers around Massachusetts and maybe

592
00:31:42,560 --> 00:31:44,960
Speaker 3: in other parts of New England as well who rely

593
00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:48,720
Speaker 3: upon National Grid and with us is Christopher Laird. Mister

594
00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:51,440
Speaker 3: Laird is the chief operating officer for National Grid New

595
00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:54,600
Speaker 3: England Electric and I'm delighted you've taken the time. Has

596
00:31:54,640 --> 00:31:57,840
Speaker 3: to be a long day for you, mister Laird. Christopher Laird,

597
00:31:58,560 --> 00:32:01,480
Speaker 3: welcome to Nightside. Thanks for taking the time to talk

598
00:32:01,520 --> 00:32:04,280
Speaker 3: with me and with my audience here at Nightside.

599
00:32:04,280 --> 00:32:07,240
Speaker 5: How are you, sir, Dan, I'm great, thank you, And

600
00:32:07,280 --> 00:32:09,040
Speaker 5: it's been a long day, but not near as long

601
00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:11,600
Speaker 5: as it is for customers that are without power right now.

602
00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:12,560
Speaker 5: I can tell you that.

603
00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:19,080
Speaker 3: Yeah, give me obviously, National Grid, ever sow As UNITIL,

604
00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:22,080
Speaker 3: all of that you provide energy and then you have

605
00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:26,160
Speaker 3: a storm like this. How it sounds to me like

606
00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:30,680
Speaker 3: most of the people who are being impacted are either

607
00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:33,360
Speaker 3: on the cape or on the south shore. Is that

608
00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:36,920
Speaker 3: an accurate thumbnail sketch of where we are.

609
00:32:37,960 --> 00:32:40,600
Speaker 5: Yeah, I would say the most significant damage is in

610
00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:43,720
Speaker 5: the south Shore and on the cape anywhere along the coast.

611
00:32:43,800 --> 00:32:47,600
Speaker 5: Today we saw wind speeds in the seventy five seventy

612
00:32:47,680 --> 00:32:50,120
Speaker 5: nine mile an hour for Peate Goss, the Stained winds

613
00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:53,040
Speaker 5: in the mid fifties to sixty miles an hour. Nantucket.

614
00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:55,280
Speaker 5: We actually clocked an eighty three mile an hour wing

615
00:32:55,360 --> 00:32:58,960
Speaker 5: gust out on the island today as well. So those areas,

616
00:32:59,040 --> 00:33:03,040
Speaker 5: combined with plus feed of what having snow, are seeing

617
00:33:03,080 --> 00:33:05,880
Speaker 5: the most damage. And that holds true for us. South

618
00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:08,080
Speaker 5: Shore and Nantucket are the areas that we're seeing the

619
00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:08,920
Speaker 5: most damage.

620
00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:15,200
Speaker 3: Okay, so if people are without power tonight and they

621
00:33:15,240 --> 00:33:19,520
Speaker 3: don't have a generator, hopefully they've been able to get

622
00:33:19,560 --> 00:33:23,080
Speaker 3: to a shelter somewhere. And obviously everybody's in a different

623
00:33:23,120 --> 00:33:28,160
Speaker 3: sort of situation. But let's look at the view from

624
00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:32,720
Speaker 3: thirty thousand feet. How many folks at this point, how

625
00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:35,240
Speaker 3: many families or how many customers I guess be better

626
00:33:35,280 --> 00:33:38,160
Speaker 3: to us describe it, are in some form of fashion

627
00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:42,400
Speaker 3: impact it effected? Has that number is that never continuing

628
00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:46,080
Speaker 3: to increase or since the storm is kind of I

629
00:33:46,120 --> 00:33:48,960
Speaker 3: think dropped off a little bit. Are you starting to

630
00:33:48,960 --> 00:33:50,640
Speaker 3: get some people back online?

631
00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:53,560
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'll share some stats with you, Dan.

632
00:33:54,240 --> 00:33:55,920
Speaker 1: We had one hundred and eleven.

633
00:33:55,520 --> 00:33:58,640
Speaker 5: Thousand total customers that were impacted by the storm, so

634
00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:02,400
Speaker 5: one hundred and eleven thousand law power. We've restored seventy

635
00:34:02,400 --> 00:34:05,600
Speaker 5: three thousand of those customers already and thirty eight thousand

636
00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:09,600
Speaker 5: remained for us. The county that we have the most interruptions,

637
00:34:09,719 --> 00:34:13,600
Speaker 5: Plymouth County has eighteen thousand customers out, Nantucket has eight

638
00:34:13,640 --> 00:34:17,439
Speaker 5: thousand customers out, Norfolk County has six thousand customers out,

639
00:34:18,160 --> 00:34:20,960
Speaker 5: Essex County has three thousand customers out, and then we

640
00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:24,919
Speaker 5: have several other counties that have between seventy five customers

641
00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:29,120
Speaker 5: and one thousand customers that are out. But really Plymouth, Nantucket, Norfolk,

642
00:34:29,160 --> 00:34:30,840
Speaker 5: and Essex were the ones that took the brunt of

643
00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:31,760
Speaker 5: it for us today.

644
00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:37,160
Speaker 3: Well, it's very impressive that you're able to calculate that

645
00:34:37,719 --> 00:34:41,759
Speaker 3: and also share those numbers. So if you have restored

646
00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:47,399
Speaker 3: seventy three of the one hundred and eleven, I'm trying

647
00:34:47,440 --> 00:34:49,080
Speaker 3: to do some math here and it looks to me

648
00:34:49,160 --> 00:34:51,400
Speaker 3: that's about thirty eight thousand as you told me thirty

649
00:34:51,400 --> 00:34:55,920
Speaker 3: eight thousand out, so you're restored about two thirds of

650
00:34:55,960 --> 00:35:01,799
Speaker 3: the numbers that were they're out and it's fortnight. That's

651
00:35:01,840 --> 00:35:04,440
Speaker 3: not a bad batting average. What can you tell the

652
00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:08,200
Speaker 3: thirty eight thousand who are out? Obviously you can't speak

653
00:35:08,239 --> 00:35:11,400
Speaker 3: to every there, every one of the situations. It's interesting

654
00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:14,640
Speaker 3: you mentioned Essex. I assume Essex has a good portion

655
00:35:14,680 --> 00:35:17,319
Speaker 3: of customers. These are the folks who are along the

656
00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:21,840
Speaker 3: water's edge who are impacted. I assume even at Essex.

657
00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:24,120
Speaker 1: Yeah, that is correct.

658
00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:27,319
Speaker 5: It's been really close to the coast is where we

659
00:35:27,360 --> 00:35:30,360
Speaker 5: saw the damage. And you know today one.

660
00:35:30,239 --> 00:35:31,399
Speaker 1: Of the rules that we have to.

661
00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:34,239
Speaker 5: Follow is the utility industry is when the winds get

662
00:35:34,239 --> 00:35:36,840
Speaker 5: above thirty five miles an hour, it is not safe

663
00:35:36,880 --> 00:35:39,000
Speaker 5: for our employees to go up in a bucket truck

664
00:35:39,040 --> 00:35:41,680
Speaker 5: and work on power line. So we have to manage that.

665
00:35:42,239 --> 00:35:44,680
Speaker 5: Is we have sustained winds at fifty five miles an

666
00:35:44,719 --> 00:35:47,680
Speaker 5: hour gust you know, over eighty as we saw today,

667
00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:50,160
Speaker 5: it's really hard for our teams to go out and

668
00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:53,839
Speaker 5: safely restore power, so they do everything they can. We

669
00:35:53,920 --> 00:35:56,239
Speaker 5: continually give them updates as we go forward, but we've

670
00:35:56,239 --> 00:35:59,640
Speaker 5: made a lot of investments in technology and that really

671
00:35:59,640 --> 00:36:02,520
Speaker 5: helped us out today as well. So we have these

672
00:36:02,520 --> 00:36:07,000
Speaker 5: schemes called Slizzard. Basically, in simple terms, it senses a

673
00:36:07,040 --> 00:36:10,080
Speaker 5: power outage from one feed and it automatically transfers it

674
00:36:10,080 --> 00:36:12,920
Speaker 5: to another feed and keeps customers on. And of the

675
00:36:12,960 --> 00:36:15,920
Speaker 5: seventy thousand customers that were stored today, twelve thousand of

676
00:36:15,920 --> 00:36:19,600
Speaker 5: those were by technology, no human intervention. The system goes

677
00:36:19,640 --> 00:36:23,080
Speaker 5: through and can self heal, so that was an advantage today.

678
00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:26,239
Speaker 5: I will say for the remaining thirty eight thousand that

679
00:36:26,280 --> 00:36:30,960
Speaker 5: are out, we're seeing significant snows, so I know that

680
00:36:31,400 --> 00:36:34,800
Speaker 5: the Mayor has put some no travel in certain areas tomorrow.

681
00:36:34,880 --> 00:36:37,120
Speaker 5: That will help us out immensely. We're going to be

682
00:36:37,160 --> 00:36:39,879
Speaker 5: able to go out get into areas that we haven't

683
00:36:39,920 --> 00:36:42,879
Speaker 5: yet been able to do damage assessment. The winds are

684
00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:46,240
Speaker 5: subsiding and will subside by midnight, so tomorrow we should

685
00:36:46,239 --> 00:36:49,439
Speaker 5: have a great day of restoration, be able to get out.

686
00:36:49,560 --> 00:36:51,400
Speaker 5: We have heavy equipment that we can go out and

687
00:36:51,440 --> 00:36:53,200
Speaker 5: make sure that we're doing the right work. We have

688
00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:56,640
Speaker 5: five hundred and seventy crews on our system. We brought

689
00:36:56,680 --> 00:37:00,200
Speaker 5: Cruisin from New York. We brought Cruisin from Canada. We

690
00:37:00,280 --> 00:37:02,080
Speaker 5: have our crews that have been on the system the

691
00:37:02,200 --> 00:37:04,759
Speaker 5: entire time, will be there until the last minute, over

692
00:37:04,800 --> 00:37:07,680
Speaker 5: two hundred four street crews, and tomorrow we'll put our

693
00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:10,759
Speaker 5: damage assessment teams out into the field making sure they're

694
00:37:10,760 --> 00:37:13,600
Speaker 5: getting their eyes on everything they possibly can. We're going

695
00:37:13,640 --> 00:37:15,960
Speaker 5: to fly drones tomorrow so that we can look at

696
00:37:15,960 --> 00:37:18,160
Speaker 5: the hardest hit areas where maybe it's not easy to

697
00:37:18,200 --> 00:37:21,000
Speaker 5: walk back into and take a look. And then I know,

698
00:37:21,040 --> 00:37:23,560
Speaker 5: we have a helicopter that flies our lines. We're looking

699
00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:25,399
Speaker 5: to get that up as soon as we possibly can.

700
00:37:25,440 --> 00:37:27,600
Speaker 5: When the winds die down a little bit more, that

701
00:37:27,600 --> 00:37:31,000
Speaker 5: could be into Wednesday as well. But our target now

702
00:37:31,040 --> 00:37:33,520
Speaker 5: that the winds are subsiding is to have every customer

703
00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:36,120
Speaker 5: taking care of within seventy two hours, and we're going

704
00:37:36,160 --> 00:37:38,759
Speaker 5: to work really hard to exceed that expectation.

705
00:37:39,440 --> 00:37:42,239
Speaker 3: So that would be seventy two hours from right now

706
00:37:42,360 --> 00:37:46,160
Speaker 3: nine pm on Monday night, that is correct. Okay, So

707
00:37:46,360 --> 00:37:49,439
Speaker 3: I'm going to count Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. So by Thursday night,

708
00:37:49,920 --> 00:37:54,880
Speaker 3: you hope you have everyone online of the thirty eight thousand.

709
00:37:54,960 --> 00:37:56,759
Speaker 3: You have no idea as to how many of them

710
00:37:56,800 --> 00:37:59,120
Speaker 3: are able to stay at their home tonight. What advice

711
00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:04,040
Speaker 3: can you give to those who are listening tonight and

712
00:38:03,760 --> 00:38:08,760
Speaker 3: and the house is getting colder, they don't have a generator? Again,

713
00:38:08,880 --> 00:38:12,640
Speaker 3: is there anything that, any words of wisdom you can

714
00:38:12,680 --> 00:38:16,760
Speaker 3: share with them that that is not going to upset

715
00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:19,560
Speaker 3: them even more? I hate to put it like that,

716
00:38:19,640 --> 00:38:21,600
Speaker 3: but I mean, obviously, if they have the ability to

717
00:38:21,600 --> 00:38:24,120
Speaker 3: get to a hotel or a motel where it's warm,

718
00:38:25,160 --> 00:38:27,960
Speaker 3: but I or if there's somewhere shelter in their in

719
00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:31,120
Speaker 3: their community, it's it's not a funny situation. What can

720
00:38:31,120 --> 00:38:33,120
Speaker 3: you What can you tell them? If anything?

721
00:38:33,960 --> 00:38:36,560
Speaker 5: Yeah, I know a lot of local governments in these

722
00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:40,080
Speaker 5: areas are working have warming shelters set up in those areas.

723
00:38:40,160 --> 00:38:43,719
Speaker 5: That is always a good option. Check on your neighbors,

724
00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:46,680
Speaker 5: Like that's the most human thing we can do right now,

725
00:38:46,760 --> 00:38:49,560
Speaker 5: is just check on each other. Make sure that everybody's

726
00:38:49,600 --> 00:38:54,120
Speaker 5: doing okay. We understand the significance of not having power

727
00:38:54,160 --> 00:38:56,160
Speaker 5: when the tempt are cold, and that's why we brought

728
00:38:56,160 --> 00:38:59,400
Speaker 5: it as many resources as we did. We forecasted, we

729
00:38:59,480 --> 00:39:01,719
Speaker 5: knew that the was coming, and we have the resources

730
00:39:01,719 --> 00:39:03,239
Speaker 5: and play to be able to make sure that we

731
00:39:03,360 --> 00:39:06,240
Speaker 5: restore as many as we possibly can throughout the day tomorrow,

732
00:39:06,239 --> 00:39:10,400
Speaker 5: but again, check on your neighbors. There are warming shelters

733
00:39:10,400 --> 00:39:14,120
Speaker 5: that are available for people to go to, and that's

734
00:39:14,160 --> 00:39:15,319
Speaker 5: what I can say at this point.

735
00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:18,600
Speaker 3: Dan, all right, Christopher Lair, appreciate you taking the time.

736
00:39:18,640 --> 00:39:21,759
Speaker 3: Be a long day for you, and I'm hopeful. I

737
00:39:21,800 --> 00:39:24,560
Speaker 3: think the numbers are important and a lot of people

738
00:39:24,600 --> 00:39:27,160
Speaker 3: once their power gets back, they forget about the other folks.

739
00:39:27,800 --> 00:39:30,000
Speaker 3: But please don't. I know you're not going to forget

740
00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:32,480
Speaker 3: about them. Not only are they all neighbors, they're all customers.

741
00:39:32,840 --> 00:39:36,520
Speaker 3: Christopher Lair, chief operating officer for National Grid New England Electric,

742
00:39:36,600 --> 00:39:40,080
Speaker 3: appreciates you being with us tonight. I really mean that

743
00:39:40,120 --> 00:39:41,799
Speaker 3: because it's the end of a long day and it's

744
00:39:41,840 --> 00:39:44,400
Speaker 3: not the sort of interview probably that you're anxious to do,

745
00:39:44,800 --> 00:39:47,000
Speaker 3: but it's a very important interview to people who are

746
00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:49,680
Speaker 3: out there tonight still without power. Thank you so much.

747
00:39:50,360 --> 00:39:52,160
Speaker 5: Yeah, thank you, Dan, I appreciate your time.

748
00:39:52,280 --> 00:39:54,360
Speaker 3: All right, Welcome, we get back on to talk about

749
00:39:54,920 --> 00:39:57,320
Speaker 3: after the nine o'clock news, a little bit about the MBTA,

750
00:39:57,440 --> 00:39:59,560
Speaker 3: and also going to talk with media relogist Ken Haunta.

751
00:39:59,600 --> 00:40:03,200
Speaker 3: The Boston Globe about where we go from here, and

752
00:40:03,239 --> 00:40:05,960
Speaker 3: we'll also get your phone calls. I want to know

753
00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:08,920
Speaker 3: what you went through today. I'd love to know what

754
00:40:09,080 --> 00:40:11,360
Speaker 3: success you might have had. Did you help someone. We

755
00:40:12,120 --> 00:40:14,520
Speaker 3: might even give away a few Nightside T shirts to

756
00:40:14,560 --> 00:40:17,800
Speaker 3: people who did good things today. Let's make it positive.

757
00:40:18,040 --> 00:40:20,400
Speaker 3: This has been a tough day for a lot of people,

758
00:40:20,800 --> 00:40:24,040
Speaker 3: particularly those who have lost power. Let's be let's not

759
00:40:24,200 --> 00:40:26,560
Speaker 3: let's keep them in our thoughts. My name's Dan Ray

760
00:40:26,560 --> 00:40:30,719
Speaker 3: and this is Nightside. We will continue our conversations right

761
00:40:30,760 --> 00:40:31,839
Speaker 3: after the nine o'clock news