Lights out — again — for tens of thousands
PG&E: Latest outage in parts of 17 NorCal counties could last up to 48 hours
As the power went out Wednesday on tens of thousands of PG&E customers in fire-prone parts of Northern California, the question wasn’t just when will the lights come back on this time.
Power-hungry residents were already asking: When will they go off next?
With more warm, windy weather in the forecast for the weekend, many Northern California residents feared the answer may be soon.
“We’re getting used to living back in the 1930s,” said Dennis McNay, owner of the Bear Flag Inn in Calistoga, which was impacted by Wednesday’s outage — as well as the big one earlier in the month. But McNay now relies on a generator to provide power for his guests. “It’s kind of ridiculous, but PG&E is known to be ridiculous, so what can we say?
We’ll just wait and see.”
PG&E CEO Bill Johnson told reporters Wednesday night that the utility may have to shut off power again this weekend due to additional dry winds forecasted to arrive late Saturday.
“This has the potential to be widespread in our region with significant winds,” Johnson warned. He said
that anyone who lost power Wednesday would get their service back, at least temporarily, before the next potential shutoff starts.
The beleaguered utility on Wednesday afternoon began its second-largest Public Safety Power Shutoff of the month as heavy winds and low humidity threatened wildfires in portions of the Sierra foothills and North Bay. Parts of San Mateo and Kern counties also were scheduled to lose power overnight. The shutdowns are part of a new strategy to prevent wildfires after PG&E’s power lines were blamed in a series of California’s deadliest blazes in recent years.
Wednesday’s shutoff was expected to cut power to 179,000 customers in 17 counties: Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, El Dorado, Kern, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Mateo, Sierra, Sonoma, Tehama and Yuba.
The shutoffs began at 2 p.m. in the Sierra foothills
and 3 p.m. in North Bay counties, where Betty’s Fish and Chips shut down in Santa Rosa and a generator kept on about half the lights at the Sunrise Villa assisted living home.
PG&E said its “decision was based on forecasts of dry, hot and windy weather that poses a higher risk for damage and sparks on the electric system and rapid wildfire spread.”
The company had warned earlier this week that it was considering outages late Wednesday and early Thursday to avoid chances of power lines sparking wildfires amid heightened risk from red flag warnings of warm, dry winds.
Forecasts indicate the peak period of winds should end about noon today in the Sierra foothills, North Bay and San Mateo County, and around noon Friday in Kern County.
“Once the high winds subside, PG&E will inspect the de-energized lines to ensure they were not damaged during the wind event, and then restore power,” the utility said in a statement. “PG&E will safely restore power in stages as quickly as possible, with the goal of restoring the vast majority
of customers within 48 hours after the weather has passed.”
Several towns in Napa County were affected by Wednesday’s outages. But in Calistoga, 60% of the town was able to rely on a PG&E generator, according to City Manager Mike Kirn. That’s because PG&E has been upgrading its transmission lines in the area, so the utility had set up a bank of generators in the area.
“It’s sort of like being in right place at right time,” Kirn said.
To the south, St. Helena expected outages, but PG&E made changes to its outage map for that area and the city did not lose power. Amy Carabba, president of the St. Helena Chamber of Commerce, said she is keeping an “open for business” sign on the chamber’s website unless PG&E makes changes again.
PG&E’s largest Public Safety Power Shutoff came just two weeks ago amid similar conditions, blacking out nearly 738,000 customers in 34 counties — some 2 million people — for hours to days across Northern and Central California.
Some businesses are adapting to the frequent power outages. Oakville Grocery, a small store with no generator that is a common stop for wine-tasters, knew after recent outages
that it would need a lot of ice packs ready for customers Wednesday just in case, said Emilia Dennis, a barista at the grocery.
“It got really busy for a few weeks after,” she said. “Because people didn’t have power, they needed a lot of stuff.”
PG&E’s public outreach during its largest outage earlier this month drew scathing criticism from residents, businesses and state officials. Gov. Gavin Newsom scolded the utility in a letter to its chief executive Tuesday, urging PG&E to limit the scope of the outage and to do a better job letting customers know when power will be out and when it will be restored.
The utility on Wednesday trimmed the number of households and businesses expected to lose power to 179,000 from about 209,000 Monday.
PG&E urged customers to update their contact information and look for additional information at pge. com/mywildfirealerts or by calling 866-743-6589 during business hours. The website includes addresses for community resource centers in each county. They will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and will provide restrooms, bottled water, charging for phones and computers and air-conditioned seating for up to 100 people.
PG&E said some customers still may lose power without warning due to electrical equipment being damaged by the strong winds and possibly falling trees.
The utility also said customers may be affected by a power shutoff even though they are not experiencing extreme weather in their area because the electric grid relies on power lines working together to provide power across cities, counties and regions.
In San Mateo County, spokeswoman Michelle Durand said Tuesday that PG&E has indicated that the overnight outage would affect 1,005 customers in Woodside, La Honda and surrounding areas in the coastal mountains. The utility expected to begin restoring power to customers in the county at noon today. The utility indicated restoration should not take long because of the small number of affected customers, she said.
For other Northern California customers, PG&E said power could be out up to 48 hours.
Today’s outage is not expected to affect ventilation and traffic at the Tom Lantos Tunnels in San Mateo
County, traveled by thousands of commuters daily to and from San Francisco around Devil’s Slide, Durand said.
The San Mateo County Office of Education has not been notified that any schools plan to close today due to the power shutoff, spokeswoman Patricia Love said.
In Sonoma County, Santa Rosa schools planned early dismissal Wednesday for four schools and to remain closed today. Other districts were expected to notify the office of education by 4:30 p.m. Wednesday of any closures today.