Pacific Gas and Electric began shutting down electric lines in high risk fire zones on Sunday night, as winds topping 50 miles per hour ripped through northern California. At last report, PG&E had cut power in seven counties – Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Lake, Napa, Placer and Sonoma. Crews inspected lines for damage yesterday, as PG&E gradually restored power to the majority of blacked out customers. The job is expected to be finished today.
On Sunday, alerts were broadcast widely. Residents in several other counties were also warned that the cuts might come, and that they should prepare. PG&E has an an opt-in alert system for customers, and county emergency services offices also got the word out.
The goal was to prevent disasters like the massive fire storms that killed dozens of people and burned hundreds of thousands of acres this year and last, including in densely populated residential areas. It’s impossible to know whether a disaster was prevented this time. All that can be said is that Cal Fire had three blazes on its hands yesterday – all were small and largely contained. There’s been no indication that electric lines had anything to do with them.
Naturally, this being California, people are upset about it. Many who have chosen to live and work in high fire risk areas whined about losing power. According to a story in the Weekly Calistogan by Cynthia Sweeney, one local businessman griped about his disappointment with PG&E. “Couldn’t they have given us a reprieve?” he said. “It’s sending a message that October is a scary time to come here”.
Duh.
Southern California Edison sent out similar warnings on Sunday and Monday, as Santa Ana winds hit. As of the company’s last update, no deliberate power cuts have been made.
San Diego Gas and Electric has proactively cut power due to fire danger in the past. It’s been tagged with billions of dollars in fire damage costs, including for one fire in which it shared responsibility for starting it with Cox Communications.