Bastrop County Public Safety Responds to Nursing Home Power Outage

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Incident briefing around Bastrop County EMS SUV
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Acadian Ambulance
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Bastrop-Travis County ESD 1
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Bastrop County First Responders bus used for rehab and potential evacuation.
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Trailer mounted generator from Austin-Travis County EMS powered air conditioning to the memory care unit.
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Wiring in trailer mounted generator to power the building.
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Acadian Ambulance and Bastrop County EMS
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Local contractors respond to bring power and air conditioning to residents
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Coordinating with facility staff
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Thanks to the Elgin Whataburger for feeding responders
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Preparing to demolbilize.
The image shows an EMS director's vehicle and a group of people engaging in an activity outdoors under a cloudy sky.
A parked pickup truck labeled "Operations Supervisor" with a black and white design in front of a building.
A red truck with a trailer is parked in a lot, with a blue vehicle nearby and visible clouds in the sky.
The image shows a white bus with a Ford truck front, parked in an open area with clouds in the sky.
The image shows a portable Generac mobile generator attached to a trailer, with control panels and equipment for operation.
A worksite with utility trucks and generators near a building, under a cloudy sky.
The image shows two emergency vehicles parked on a street, with personnel nearby in a residential area under a cloudy sky.
A line of vehicles, including a work truck and a trailer, parked on pavement with trees and clouds in the background.
A group of law enforcement officers is interacting in an indoor space, possibly responding to a situation.
A group of six people posing inside a restaurant, holding bags, with an orange-themed background.
A group of people, including officials and first responders, gathers outside a building, possibly for an emergency or coordination effort.

Just after 12:30 pm on Wednesday, September 9th, a vehicle collision on Avenue C in Elgin resulted in a major power outage at the Elgin Nursing Home.    Two utility poles, as well as transmission lines were destroyed, and a grass fire threatened the facility.  

Bastrop-Travis County ESD 1 and Acadian Ambulance responded.   Encore Electric was able to quickly eliminate the electrical hazard from the downed lines and BTCESD1 extinguished the fire.   The facility’s generator started as planned and powered emergency outlets, life safety equipment and air conditioning to the cafeteria/active room area.  

With the scorching afternoon heat rising, the Battalion Chief requested additional resources from Bastrop County ESD 3 and the City of Elgin.   Acadian Ambulance also sent additional ambulances and supervisors.   A command structure was assembled, and teams began working with the facility to confirm the number of patients at the facility and identify those who might be most at risk if the outage continued and temperatures exceeded safe thresholds for their individual conditions.

Approximately 20 of Bastrop County ESD 3’s staff were on a 26-passenger bus learning the territory.   That team was redirected to the facility to support triage and staging activities.   The bus was used as a cooling station and remained available to possibly evacuation residents.  

Although not yet in service, ESD 3 is licensed and has nine of its 16 ambulances operationally ready.   Additional staff manned five units and headed to Elgin.   Regional assets were requested as well.   An 18-patient ambulance bus came from Austin.   A second was on standby in San Antonio.   Five ambulances came from around the region.

The City of Elgin brought in two contracted generators and portable A/C units.  The City of Austin responded with two EMS leaders and a third generator.   The Capital Area Trauma Regional Advisory Committee sent an incident management team to support the local command structure, as well as additional cooling equipment.

The trailer-mounted generators and ancillary cooling equipment helped the slow rising temperature, but by 5 pm, the incident command team, in coordination with the facility staff, made the decision to start moving patients.   As final preparations were completed, electricians were able to successfully wire in a large, trailer-mounted generator sufficient to fully restore power and air conditioning to the facility.    Crews stood by for another hour to ensure the generator remained stable and the temperatures receded.    By 6 pm, all mutual aid units were released.

Battalion Chief Eran Denzler stated, “We all knew evacuations were a last resort.  These are medically fragile patients and moving them to new surroundings is very stressful and risky.   We were fortunate to get lots of help.  Everyone worked together to make this a well-coordinated effort.”  

  

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