Return to Archives Home

Wes Johnson inspects portable generators that will “light the night” during an emergency.

Story and photo by John Perry

Necessity has been called the mother of invention. Take that old adage; add two hurricanes, a dash of innovative thinking and you get the recipe for a $1.5 million savings for the city and another $2,500 just for thinking of it.

That’s what happened when Wes Johnson left a post-Hurricane Rita meeting at Houston Emergency Center.

In the wake of mass exodus realities, everyone remembered the images of sputtering vehicles with empty gas tanks adding to snarled traffic when millions were trying to leave the city at the same time. The gas stations were depleted without a way to get refueled.

How might we be better prepared for the next big storm? What about the city’s emergency vehicles? Officials were worried about getting gas to its police cars, fire trucks, EMS and public works vehicles.

City departments were asked to find solutions.

“It occurred to me that one of the most useful things we could do was find a way to get fuel reserves out to our fleet,” said Johnson, Public Works media relations and public information officer who had experienced Hurricane Alicia and Tropical Storm Allison.

While PWE vehicles never ran out of fuel, the department would have been severely limited in its ability to move the fuel from one location to another if the city had taken the direct hurricane hit, Johnson said.

“We had one 5,000-gallon fuel transport available, plus a few limited-capacity portable fuel tanks,” Johnson said.

It was obvious that PWE would have to buy a fleet of fuel trucks and trailers. Johnson knew it would probably be prohibitively expensive, but started searching the Internet for fuel transports.
He wasn’t optimistic, but then he came across federal surplus property for sale. Among the items were military fuel tanker trucks and fuel trailers. They were being auctioned or offered for sale at unbelievable savings, if the buyer was also a government agency.

Voila! A way to meet transportation needs and save city taxpayers money.

Johnson forwarded the information to Carl Bowker, PWE fleet maintenance assistant director and former Army logistics expert, who jumped on it.

Spending just $5,500, PWE purchased five fuel tanker trucks, each with a 5,000-gallon capacity and six 5,000-gallon fuel trailers.

“All we paid was the $500 administrative fee for (each of) those trucks and trailer,” said Bowker, an Army reservist. “The trucks normally run about $81,000, and the trailers $15,000 each.”
He estimates spending an additional $2,000 each getting the tankers in tip-top shape.

“PWE can now transport 68,800 gallons of fuel using the 11 surplus transports plus units we already owned,” Bowker said.

Power to the people
Another major hurricane concern is the loss of electrical power, which is essential for water production and wastewater treatment, Johnson said.

Johnson said that Bowker also found trailer-mounted generators on the federal Web site.

“One was huge, capable of lighting two city blocks,” Johnson said.

PWE purchased that 1,000-kilowatt generator for $500. Then Bowker brokered three truck tractors, normally $245,000 each, for $500, to transport it to where it might be needed.

“We have continued procuring generators for the utility division water and wastewater branches along with medical supplies for the Health Department,” Bowker said.

Referring to the government contract, Bowker said the cost of new equipment would be more than $1.5 million. The city paid $7,500.

Johnson said he appreciated the swiftness with which PWE Director Mike Marcotte approved the purchase.

His Internet diligence won Johnson $2,500, the maximum award from the Employee Suggestion Program, which awards money to employees making cost-saving suggestions that the city uses.

return to the top