Cat® dealer delivers rental power solution on tight timeline

As the Cat® dealer in Southern California, Quinn Power Systems supplies area hospitals in San Bernardino County with backup power generation and provides ongoing support to ensure the stationary generator sets are ready to run in an emergency.

So, when COVID-19 first appeared in the general population of San Bernardino County—the largest county in the U.S. in terms of physical size—county emergency services called on the Cat dealer to provide mobile backup power for trailers set up to screen people for the virus at five county hospitals. Quinn’s rental power division is providing a turnkey service for up to five months that includes the portable generators, cabling, fueling, and fuel tanks, as well as ongoing support when needed.

“Quinn is a 100-year-old organization, and our reputation is excellent with counties and cities,” said Jason Wondolleck, rental area sales manager. “So, when issues like this arise, those customers know they can call us and we will take care of them.” 

Quinn supplied XQ60 generators to power the medical equipment inside trailers, along with auxiliary 550-gallon fuel tanks that allow the equipment to run for at least a week without having to be refueled. A skilled member of the Quinn team verified all the connections and the loads, while another technician tied in the fuel tanks and primed the fuel lines.

At Arrowhead Regional Medical Center—the county’s largest hospital—Quinn supplied three XQ60s and three fuel tanks to power six trailers that screen people for the novel coronavirus. 

At four other hospital locations in San Bernardino County, the Cat dealer is providing XQ60 generator sets, each trailer serving the same purpose. Another XQ60 is powering a screening trailer at Riverside County Regional Medical Center.

When the decision was made by the county over the weekend to set up the screening trailers, the rental power professionals at Quinn swung into action and performed delivery and setup the following Monday.

“There were five of us, and we started at 7 a.m. and didn’t finish until 8 p.m.,” Wondolleck said. “We went from one location to the next, delivering and setting up the generators and all ancillary equipment from sunup until sundown.

“We were able to locate the auxiliary fuel tanks and get them shipped over the weekend so we could have everything for a Monday start,” he continues. “We’re an emergency backup power rental company, so our business is, to a large extent, based on natural disasters. It’s all an emergency to us. We just answer the phone, provide the necessary equipment, and get the job done.”