As natural disasters can’t be anticipated, response workers depend upon equipment rental companies to provide extra rigs for the big jobs.
Every construction or demolition company owns or leases a fleet of equipment to use for “everyday” projects. Many local, county, and state governments also own a certain amount of equipment. However, when the worst happens, and the amount of debris to be cleaned up is massive, more rigs are needed than any of these entities could keep on hand. During such times, equipment rental companies become invaluable resources. One problem: If they’re local, those equipment rental companies likely have suffered from the disaster, as well. Rental companies belonging to a “chain,” or those with multiple locations, can sometimes juggle manpower and inventory, to get the job done. Sometimes, all that’s needed is some creative thinking, hard work, and a lot of long hours.
The 2005 hurricane season was particularly hard on the southeastern US, and three rental firms from that area have sagas to relate that might help others make contingency plans for similar disasters— “just in case.”
Hurricanes Didn’t Miss Mississippi
Mississippi's Puckett Rents (www.puckettrents.com), a division of a Caterpillar dealer, supplies, and rents equipment to, the construction industry. According to General Manager J. Roger Brown, 2005’s Hurricane Katrina caught the company somewhat by surprise. “We don’t make equipment purchase decisions based on meteorological forecasts; we react to the situation as appropriate, although we normally stock up on generators for hurricane season. We frankly didn’t react quickly enough when Katrina struck. We get so many hurricane scares down here, by the time we knew it was so big, we had millions of dollars of equipment on rent, and we couldn’t get to it. The various government agencies closed down roads—we lost lots of equipment.”
Renting out equipment during a hurricane is a double-edged sword; the very machines that are the most needed are put at the most risk. “During a natural disaster, there's a small window of opportunity to get your stuff off job sites,” Brown explains. “You can’t get your equipment out of harm’s way quickly—there are mandatory evacuations. Katrina happened on the weekend; we couldn't get our staff in to then go out and get equipment out of harm’s way. Plus they had their own families and property to safeguard.”
Despite the problems, Puckett Rents responded to the crisis. “We rented out everything we could to help clean up, everything that wasn’t damaged by the storm. We called in equipment from other branches and from other dealers to satisfy the demand. Our office had diesel-generated power, and we were able to be in business the day after the storm hit. With a lot of help from other dealers and from Caterpillar, we doubled our rental fleet within 60 days of this disaster.”
During Katrina, Puckett employees were working extended hours and weekends to service all the opportunities to rent. “We bought generators and light towers by the truckloads to meet demands,” Brown says. “As soon as the roads cleared, we were able to bring in the supplies. There was a big demand for excavators with thumbs for removing debris and trees, and demolition work. Also, there was a lot of calls for skid-steers with grapple buckets for cleanup, dozers and front-end loaders to clear roads and debris. Almost everything we had was in demand. Thankfully, getting equipment to the sites was no problem. Most other motorists were kept off the roads, but, because of the type of business we’re in—because our service was helping the cleanup efforts—we got special authorization from Mississippi DOT to drive on any roads, day or night.”
Puckett Rents has 10 locations throughout Mississippi; manpower and equipment was called in to affected areas. “Most of our rental business came from within the state, but we did send some equipment to New Orleans. We rented primarily to contractors who were working with FEMA, although we also rented to the military, government agencies, and city staffs. Actually, we rented to everyone who had problems to contend with.”
Will any procedural changes be made at the company, due to the lessons learned from Katrina? Will the firm recall units when storms are imminent?
“We don’t hold equipment in anticipation of a potential disaster,” says Brown, “but in the future we will contact customers in danger zones that have equipment on rent, so we can get it from harm’s way, or potentially use it where it's most needed.
“We do have a fairly detailed contingency plan,” Brown goes on. “We’ve decided how we’re going to organize the company during a crisis, and how to bring in resources from other branches. We will get employees from all over the state to come here and help deal with any emergencies. We need to know how we can get to our equipment quicker when this happens again. We now have a system in place to quickly identify the exact location of all rental equipment and to prioritize which units are in harm’s way.
“As hurricane season begins ... we start holding meetings in all branches to review disaster plans—to make everyone understands their role in dealing with a natural disaster. We have the plan, although it’s something you always hope you don’t have to use,” he concludes.
Being Prepared Helps—a Little
Greg Clearman, of Hattiesburg, MS–based Volvo Rents, gained a great deal of experience in equipment allocation during the 2005 hurricane season.
“The most important task in preparing for disaster is understanding you're going to have four major different areas of customers you must supply,” he explains. “One, the power company. Two, the National Guard or Army, and the American Red Cross. With these first groups, it helps to know these people, and plan, if you can, weeks in advance of a disaster. Three—city organizations, and what they need to get streets cleared, and get city services back on line. Four—the local residents—help make sure they get medical help and power. Preparing and organizing equipment for those major customers is our task, but we must prioritize.”
“We rent to all these types of customers,” Clearman goes on, “Usually bulldozers, excavators, fork lifts, lights towers and generators. We rented out our stock during Hurricane Katrina, and some during the recent spring’s tornadoes—although, for localized tornadoes, usually a general contractor, who has his own equipment, does cleanup.”
Quick action was called for during Hurricane Katrina. “The National Guard called, and we got 15 units—bulldozers and the like—to them within 48 hours, so they could get trees out of the way, off roads—so help could get to people hurt by the storm. We also furnished equipment to Mississippi Power, and supplied four or five generators to Forrest General Hospital, so they had enough power to keep them going.” In preparation for future storm seasons, Volvo Rents and Clearman are opening a new facility in Gulfport, MS, which will put the needed equipment closer to hurricane-prone areas.
As hurricanes are common on the Gulf Coast, Clearman and his company strive to be prepared: “We do meet with the National Guard and the power company quarterly, keeping coordination in progress. We know we can be called at any time to bring them equipment; however, despite our plans, we were scrambling during Katrina—no one knew how destructive the storm would be.”
With the importance of the emergency, did Volvo Rents recall previously-rented equipment from non-emergency clients? “Once we commit a machine to a company beforehand, it’s theirs to use. However, since the rains were heavy, and they might not be able to work anyway, sometimes we'd call clients and say ‘Are you using it? We need it for hurricane clean-up,’ and then they could re-rent it when their situation or site had improved. Of course, when all units are in stock, we prioritize the greatest need, and others put on a wait list. During Katrina, 175 to 200 of our units—95% to 98% of our equipment—were out doing cleanup work.”
The Solution Posed Problems
Located in the state Hurricane Katrina disliked most, Louisiana Machinery (www.louisianamachinery.com) first had to scramble to get itself operational before it could help any customers.
“Four of our facilities were totally out of power,” recalls Jay Dinger, general rental manager. “Our corporate offices are located in Reserve, Louisiana, which didn’t have that much damage, except the main computer and phone lines were down. But after a few days, the water backed up, and we couldn’t communicate with customers.”
Anything that could go wrong, did. “Lots of inventory was flooded, the banks were all shut down, so we couldn't collect monies owed to us,” Dinger explains. “We couldn't get hold of our employees because the phones were out. Even if we could have reached them, where were people located? Had they been evacuated? How could we get in touch with them?”
Some means of communications worked—somewhat. “Text messages did work on cell phones, when the voice part didn’t. Satellite phones—you had to be out in an open area, not inside buildings, but they would work.”
The heavy Caterpillar equipment Louisiana Machinery had to rent was greatly needed, but not only did the company have to locate its equipment and employees, it also had to obtain clearance to get to its business. “We needed permission to be on the roads,” Dinger says. “The National Guard had to watch for looters, plus roads that were impassible were blocked off, and other roads were designated for evacuations. We had to get special permission from FEMA and the Guard so we could go on the roads. We got special permits to get generators to sites.”
Once the firm had access to its equipment, it had little choice of whom to give it to: “The National Guard claimed items—since this was an emergency, and people couldn’t get out, they proclaimed martial law. They’d come in, see we have equipment, then take it—of course, they paid us for it later on, but that severely diminished our inventory.”
Just taking the equipment didn’t get the work done; rig operators were needed, too. Louisiana Machinery was successful in finding its employees, but many had been evacuated, and some had no homes to go to. These employees were willing to go back to work, but where would they stay? “Motels filled up immediately with National Guard and FEMA crews,” Dinger says. “Where were we going to put our employees? We finally rented some houses in an area that wasn’t affected.”
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| As hurricanes are common along the regoin of the US Gulf Coast, rental companies must always strive to be prepared for dealing with the worst. |
People and machines—what more was needed? “Fuel! With all the evacuations, people stranded, and gas stations closed, then the National Guard and FEMA put a hold on anyone who had fuel distributorship. Much of that fuel was needed for emergency crews’ use. We have fuel tanks at all our locations, and they’re kept pretty well stocked; through the help of FEMA and the guard, they told distributors to make sure we got fuel because we were helping with the recovery efforts.” Dinger’s firm needed two kinds of fuel: “Ninety-five percent of our equipment runs on diesel—including the generators, unless they’re smaller units, which use gasoline.”
No job is complete until the paperwork is done, and soon the Baton Rouge office was affected. “We had to move our computer servers, because Baton Rouge had twisters and high winds knocking electricity out. We secured temporary quarters in other locations around the state.”
Of course, as a Caterpillar equipment rental dealer, Louisiana Machinery wasn’t totally on its own—help was forthcoming from Cat’s home offices in Peoria, IL—not only in the form of more equipment, but also in help with credit checks and billing. “A lot of people were coming in to help from out of state; we didn’t know who they were, but Cat Access, with its nationwide database, knew them, and was a big help. Other dealers and Cat itself gave us excess inventory to get the job done, as well.” And much was needed: “There was so much demand for rentals, to fill all the orders, we could have quadrupled our fleet overnight. We did add several hundred machines to our fleet—we could have used several thousand.”
Rita Roars Through
One month after Katrina devastated Louisiana, Hurricane Rita hit on the southwest side of the state. “Then we had more damage those places. Of course, that was the area where we had moved people to,” Dinger says.
Another wave—this time, a helpful one—poured in: “After the storms, a lot of vendors from outlying states we do business with came in and offered assistance for our employees. They contributed water, food, gas—anything we needed—and set up a trust fund so help could be distributed to our employees.”
Desperate times fueled desperate measures. “At our main corporate office, where our new inventory was stored, fences had been torn down by the storms; we had to keep inventory under control. There was so much movement of machinery in and out, we had to hire extra people to guard the site at night. This was despite the fact that our shops were now open 24 and seven! However, you had so much theft—and by that, I don't mean intention to steal, but because there was so much crisis going on, people were just taking things that were needed to get the cleanup done.”
Disaster recovery crews, such as the US Army Corps of Engineers and FEMA, had some of the equipment. “Again, martial law was proclaimed, so they could do anything that was needed to solve problems. It was a big deal going to find our equipment. Cleanup crews were trying to tell us where stuff was, but they had problems communicating, too. The situation was chaotic—yet when it was all over, we recovered all but three or four pieces of equipment.”
That total does not include rigs destroyed by the storms; many Louisiana Machinery sites (or work sites where the equipment had been located when the hurricanes hit) had been flooded, and some equipment was a total loss, necessitating insurance claims.
Changing Shifts, Changing Roles
Trying times led to staffers trying different shifts and different tasks. “Our staff met twice a day, at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., to keep everyone informed, to get the job done, and also we tried to keep up morale. Once we got all employees located, we moved our banking to facilities further north, so we could write payroll checks. We started a direct deposit plan, so folks had quicker access to their money,” Dinger recounts. “Due to the hurricanes, our business doubled overnight—however, we didn't have the personnel to do it all. Therefore, workers whose skills were not immediately needed—such as people in finance and rentals, outside salesmen, the marketing department—we temporarily changed their roles to take care of existing business.”
Caterpillar sent personnel, too. "They sent generator rental representatives down, which was great, because they’d also sent 400 machines to us overnight. Until our banks were running, they also held off on billing."
Louisiana Machinery learned many lessons from the 2005 hurricane season. “Now we have a contingency plan in place—each worker knows his or her role,” Dinger says. The company is now better prepared for when the worst happens:
- The company’s domain controllers are separated by 250 miles, which should allow e-mail and Internet applications to remain online. Each facility is a backup for the other. These applications will be crucial, as employees will turn to the Web site for information if phone lines are out.
- Emergency contact numbers will be displayed at all facilities, not only for employees’ use but also for walk-up business.
- Direct deposit, in conjunction with ATM machines, allow employees access to their payroll checks. Funds will no longer need to be wired to employees.
- All company cell phones now must have text messaging, as that feature worked after the storms, when voice messaging did not.
- Facility managers will have satellite phones, which help them keep in touch with “first responder” employees.
Even steps as simple as keeping all computer/electronic equipment off the floor will help Louisiana Machinery minimize downtime during the next crisis. “A 4-inch flood can be as damaging as a 4-footer,” Dinger concludes.
Tornadoes Don’t Stop Whirlwind Service
Further inland, hurricanes are not a factor, but, from the Rockies to the Potomac, tornadoes often cut a wide swath of destruction. In May 2003, when two F-4 tornadoes plowed through Jackson, TN, RSC Equipment Rental’s (www.rscrental.com) local store suffered damage, just as the rest of the city had. Along with broken windows and hail damage, the RSC store was without power or phones for three days. However, that didn’t stop RSC Store Manager Preston Mysinger and his staff from making sure things were in order for customers in need.
“We ordered additional equipment from our stores in Nashville and Memphis to cover the increased demand,” Mysinger says. “Because our phone lines were down, our customer care center fielded calls from local customers needing rental equipment. Then, they routed the calls to us to provide them with the assistance they needed. For three days, the customer service representatives and employees at the Jackson location fielded several hundred calls ... from 7 a.m. to midnight.”
Crocker Construction Co. brought its rental list to RSC’s front door. “Almost no phones were working in town,” says owner Hal Crocker. “We went into the RSC store and told Preston Mysinger that we needed a 110-foot personnel lift. He delivered it within five hours. It was amazing how quickly he responded and got the equipment to us.”
Crocker used RSC equipment to help with repairs in downtown Jackson: the federal court building, which required $6 million in renovations, and the New Southern Building, a historic site, which suffered $4 million in damages.
“We started using the lift the day after the tornado, waterproofing and weatherproofing both sites,” Crocker recalls. “RSC’s quick turn-around really meant a lot to us.”
Downtown Jackson spent $20 to $30 million on repairs and upgrades due to tornado damage. Marilyn Steiger-Vandever, RSC’s customer care center manager, says the company’s 24-hour centralized dispatch system easily handled the demand.
“We can literally go into a lockdown mode,” says Steiger-Vandever. “We can drop everything else we’re doing to service large groups of customers in need, making sure they’re being connected to the right person quickly.”
Rising to the Task of a Sinkhole
Thankfully, some natural disasters are a little easier to fix. Ajax Paving Industries of southwest Florida got a call around midnight on a Sunday that a 20-foot-by-30-foot sinkhole needed repair before the Monday morning rush hour. The company’s first action: Call RSC Equipment Rental.
When the 24-and seven customer care center received Ajax’s call, Ron Watson, manager of RSC’s Largo, FL, location, made sure equipment was delivered in just over an hour. An RSC sales representative and a driver met the customer within minutes of the call, loaded and delivered the backhoe and plate compactor needed to make the repairs, and stayed on site for 45 minutes to make sure Ajax had everything it needed.
“We had the road back open by 6 a.m., thanks to the quick response from RSC. It was excellent service, especially for a Sunday night,” says Todd Gorby, Ajax Paving Industries foreman.
In an ironic twist, shortly after the road was reopened, another sinkhole appeared. RSC recommended that Ajax keep the equipment a while longer to finish that job.