SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) announced this afternoon that it
forecasts to restore power by midnight Monday, October 15, to
approximately 70 percent of customers impacted in areas where it had
proactively turned power off for safety on Sunday evening.
Early Monday morning, weather conditions improved to allow PG&E crews to
begin patrols of lines to identify damage that occurred overnight. Crews
are thoroughly inspecting powerlines and equipment by helicopter, in
vehicles and on foot.
As crews assess damage from the weather event, PG&E will continue to
proactively communicate with customers, providing them more detailed
information about expected time of restoration.
To help reduce the risk of wildfire and keep our customers, their
families and their homes and businesses safe, the company initiated a
Public Safety Power Shutoff in the following extreme fire-risk areas:
-
North Bay (Lake, Napa and Sonoma counties)
-
Sierra Foothills (Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado and Placer counties)
Approximately 60,000 PG&E customers were impacted by the power shut off.
PG&E had notified approximately 97,000 customers of the possibility that
power would be turned off, but conditions did not require all customers
to be impacted.
Overnight on Sunday, portions of the North Bay region experienced wind
speeds over 60 mph and wind gusts of up to 70 mph. In the Sierra, wind
speeds were lower at between 20-35 mph, but with gusts of up to 55 mph.
At the Kirkwood area high in the Sierra, wind speeds were recorded at 96
mph with gusts at 121 mph.
“The safety of our customers and the communities we serve is PG&E’s top
priority. We know how much our customers rely on electric service and
only considered temporarily turning off power in the interest of safety,
and as a last resort during extreme weather conditions. We appreciate
our customers’ patience as restoration progresses,” said Pat Hogan,
PG&E’s senior vice president of Electric Operations.
PG&E’s 24/7 Wildfire Safety Operations Center and our in-house
meteorologists had been monitoring the weather for several days leading
up the decision to turn off power for safety. The company factors in
whether the National Weather Service issued a Red Flag Warning, humidity
levels, projected sustained winds, temperature, condition of fuel on the
ground and on-the-ground observations.
Extreme weather threats can change quickly. Out of an abundance of
caution, PG&E began providing notice to customers in advance of this
safety event through automated phone calls, texts, social media and
emails on Saturday, Oct. 13.
As part of these preparedness efforts, PG&E has asked customers to:
-
Learn whether their home or business is in or near a high fire-threat
area on the CPUC High Fire-Threat District map. Customers also can
visit pge.com/wildfiresafety to enter their address and find out if
their home or business is served by an electric line that may be
turned off for safety during high wildfire threats.
-
Update their contact information at pge.com/mywildfirealerts or by
calling 1-866-743-6589 during normal business hours. PG&E will use
this information to alert customers in advance of turning off their
electric service for safety, when and where possible.
-
Prepare for and practice an emergency plan to keep themselves, their
families and/or employees emergency-ready and safe during an outage.
Keep in mind family members who are elderly, younger children and
pets. Information and tips including a safety plan checklist are
available at pge.com/wildfiresafety
Public Safety Power Shutoff is part of PG&E’s comprehensive Community
Wildfire Safety Program to reduce wildfire risks and strengthen our
communities for the future.
About PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E
Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas
and electric energy companies in the United States. Based in San
Francisco, with more than 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of
the nation’s cleanest energy to nearly 16 million people in Northern and
Central California. For more information, visit www.pge.com/
and www.pge.com/en/about/newsroom/index.page.
View source version on businesswire.com:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181015005951/en/
PG&E
Media Relations, 415-973-5930
Source: Pacific Gas and Electric Company