BLACKOUT STRATEGY PROPOSED : HEIDT WANTS POWER PLAN TO KEEP CITY OUT OF DARK.

Byline: Sherry Joe Crosby Daily News Staff Writer

Alarmed by Saturday's massive power failure, Councilwoman Jan Heidt called Tuesday for an emergency power plan that would keep the city functioning during another blackout.

Heidt asked City Manager George Caravalho to identify key public services, such as sanitation plants and water companies, and determine if they have backup generators to continue operation during blackouts.

``We need to do an emergency power inventory to know what we can depend upon,'' said Heidt, who wants to avoid problems like those experienced by Los Angeles' Hyperion waste treatment plant, which discharged 6 million gallons of partly treated sewage Saturday despite a power backup system.

A power outage Saturday that originated in Portland, Ore., cut electricity to 4 million people from Canada to Mexico.

The power failure was similar to a smaller outage that occurred July 2 when a tree fell into a power line in Idaho, cutting power to 2 million people in 15 states and parts of Mexico and Canada.

Following the most recent blackout, utility officials have asked customers to conserve energy and reduce stress on California's electrical system.

But Heidt wants to go a step further.

``We should get together and come up with an emergency plan because I don't think this is the end of our problems,'' she said. ``We need to find and define what our essential services are and what essential services we need to keep up.''

Caravalho plans to contact agencies such as Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital and the Castaic Lake Water Agency to determine how well-equipped they are for a major power outage.

``It is prudent to be prepared to do some pro-active thinking,'' Caravalho said. ``We have taken for granted that power always is available.''

The city already has taken some preventive measures. After the January 1994 Northridge Quake, City Hall installed a backup generator which provides power to key offices on the third and first floors of the three-story building.

The Santa Clarita Valley sheriff's station also has a backup power system but none of the valley's five fire stations have such equipment, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said.

Station 73 in Newhall lost power but the county dispatch center in East Los Angeles still received emergency calls because it has a backup generator.

``The fire stations themselves don't have backup generators but they're on the drawing board for the future,'' said Dave Crall, spokesman for the county Fire Department.

During the power outage, Station 73 used radios to communicate and relied on hilltop water tanks, which use gravity to draw water to the surface.

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