Generators Keep Berkley, Huntington Woods Humming

As the heat wave and power outages grind on this week in Berkley and Huntington Woods, some residents and businesses have turned to generators to keep their cool until power is restored.

While the devices can provide enough temporary power to preserve food in the refrigerator or keep the air conditioning running, they do have limitations and even pose some safety hazards.

Bill Kepke, an employee at in Berkley, said all six of the shop's generators have been rented and the situation is the same at Chet's' other locations.

The Berkley shop saw a run on generators beginning Thursday morning, after , he said.

DTE's outage map showed 1,441 customers in Huntington Woods still were without power as of noon Friday, as were 773 customers in Berkley.

"Basically, what (people are) doing is running their refrigerators and their TVs," or their AC, Kepke said, explaining that the generators aren't powerful enough to sustain all of a modern home's conveniences at once.

Businesses also are using the machines to weather the outage.

Buzzing generators cropped up near utility poles throughout Huntington Woods after the Wednesday evening storms, placed there by cable companies.

"One block might have power and one doesn't, so we put the generators there to feed the ones who still have power," explained Patrick Paterno, director of public relations for Comcast Cable in Michigan.

However, if there is a downed cable wire, the company cannot come in and fix it until DTE has given the all-clear in case a downed power line lurks nearby, Paterno said.

"We try to keep as many customers on line as possible," using the generators, he said.

Businesses along Woodward Avenue also are using generators and have hired security guards to protect their buildings because the doors have to be left open, said executive secretary Lynn Wren.

For all those using the machines, Huntington Woods Public Safety Lt. Billy Spencer offered some tips:

• Don't use generators indoors; if they do not have proper ventilation, they can start fires.
• Don't use them near windows, which could allow the fumes to get inside nearby homes.
• A Huntington Woods noise ordinance says generators must be turned off from 9 p.m. until 8 a.m., although Spencer noted this is an emergency situation and the department has not received any complaints.

Berkley also has noise ordinances that can be applied to generators, but Public Safety Sgt. Nate Papke said safety is officers' main priority.

"If you have a resident who is using a generator to keep the air conditioning on or preserve their food, we're not going to write them a bunch of tickets, have their AC shut off and then have a medical emergency," he said. "Mowing your lawn at 3 a.m. is different than running a generator when it's 100 degrees out."