The safety of Piedmont rests largely on a tower rising high above Fifth Avenue. Charter Communications owns the tower that houses the city’s emergency services radio repeaters, the electronic devices that relay radio signals across a wide area and allow police, fire and rescue to communicate with one another.

That site is now vulnerable to a complete failure from power outages now that Charter is no longer providing upkeep on the back-up generator at the site.

The only remaining concern Charter has with the tower are the company’s local channels, which are still broadcast from the location, and according to Piedmont Power and Light superintendent Phillip Johnson, “Once they go digital in a couple of months they are done,” said Johnson.

But the problem is already here. The city suffered a power outage on May 29 that put emergency services in a total communications blackout for approximately 30 minutes.

“Nobody had any radio contact,“ said Johnson. “None whatsoever. Had a house fire. Couldn’t page it out. The whole nine yards, all in one whap.”

The city council gave the mayor unanimous approval at its June 15 meeting to purchase a new 12 kilowatt-hour generator for the site, but it could be as late as the end of June before it is up and running. Johnson said he ordered the new generator this week but it will have to be shipped to Anniston, and could take up to three days to install.

Piedmont Police Chief Steven Tidwell said that although a power outage would reduce the strength of their radio systems, the department would still be able to transmit on the same frequency using the same equipment.

“This takes some minor adjustment in the dispatch office and in the officers’ units, but can be accomplished in just a few minutes,” said Tidwell. Tidwell added that the old 800 MHZ radio system and personal cell phones could also be used in the event of a blackout.