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Extension's Blackout Summit offers power outage tips

November 23, 2020

Marmian Grimes

With colder weather bringing sleet, ice and snowstorms, it’s the season for power outages.

Elizabeth Explores photo. Candles are one source of emergency lighting during a power outage.
Elizabeth Explores photo. Candles are one source of emergency lighting during a power outage.


The University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service will host a free Blackout Backup Summit Dec. 4 with more than a dozen half-hour sessions on different aspects of handling power outages. Individuals may participate in one or all of the Zoom workshops. Topics include:


  • Resources before and during an outage, 8 a.m.

  • Buying and using generators, 8:30 a.m.

  • Emergency lighting, 9 a.m.

  • Simple battery banks, 9:30 a.m.

  • Salvaging perishable foods, 10 a.m.

  • Heating safely in the dark, 10:30 a.m.

  • Wire and cord management, 11:30 a.m.

  • Water supplies, noon

  • Using your car’s power, 12:30 p.m.

  • Communications, 1 p.m.

  • Managing pets without power, 1:30 p.m.

  • Fuel readiness, 2 p.m.

  • What to do after an outage, 2:30 p.m.

  • Final wrap-up, 3 p.m.


Registration and details are available at https://bit.ly/BlackoutSummit2020. For more information, contact Extension energy specialist Art Nash at alnashjr@alaska.edu or 907-474-6366. Accommodation requests related to a disability should be made five days in advance to Nash.