May Need to Proactively Turn Off Power for
Safety in Portions of 15 Counties in Sierra Foothills and North
Bay
Approximately 209,000 customers notified that
they may be impacted beginning late Wednesday evening
Since yesterday, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E)’s
emergency operations center has been open and teams have been
monitoring a dry, offshore wind event. This afternoon, the company
began its 48-hour advance notifications to customers that it may be
proactively turning power off for safety and conducting a Public
Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) on late Wednesday evening.
The potential safety shutoff is planned for varying start times
depending on location beginning Wednesday evening and is expected
to affect approximately 209,000 customers and may impact portions
of 15 counties in the Sierra Foothills and the North Bay, including
Amador, Butte, Calaveras, El Dorado, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada,
Placer, Plumas, San Mateo, Sierra, Sonoma, Sutter, and Yuba.
Customer notifications via text, email and automated phone call
began this afternoon, approximately 48 hours prior to the potential
de-energization. Customers enrolled in the company’s Medical
Baseline program who do not verify that they have received these
important safety communications will be individually visited by a
PG&E employee with a knock on their door when possible. A
primary focus will be given to those customers who rely on
electricity for critical life-sustaining equipment.
Reason for PSPS
The sole purpose of a PSPS event is to reduce the risk of
catastrophic wildfire ignitions. Windy conditions, like those being
forecast later in the week, increase the potential for damage and
hazards to the electric infrastructure, which could cause sparks if
lines are energized. These conditions also increase the potential
for rapid fire spread.
PG&E’s meteorological and operations teams continue to
monitor weather models that show potential strong and dry offshore
wind gusts that may exceed 55 mph late Wednesday evening through
Thursday afternoon for portions of the Sierra Foothills. Gusts of
35-45 mph have been forecast for some North Bay counties, with some
localized areas expected to experience 55 mph gusts.
State officials classify more than half of PG&E's
70,000-square-mile service area in Northern and Central California
as having a high fire threat, given dry grasses and the high volume
of dead and dying trees. The state's high-risk areas have tripled
in size in seven years.
“The sole purpose of PSPS is to significantly reduce
catastrophic wildfire risk to our customers and communities. We
know that sustained winds above 45 mph are known to cause damage to
the lower-voltage distribution system and winds above 50 mph are
known to cause damage to higher-voltage transmission equipment. As
we saw in the last PSPS event, we had more than 100 instances of
serious damage and hazard on our distribution and transmission
lines from wind gusts of this strength,” said Michael Lewis, Senior
Vice President, PG&E Electric Operations.
Counties Potentially
Impacted
County
Customers
Cities
Amador
Total: 13,131
Medical Baseline: 661
Amador City, Fiddletown, Jackson, Martell,
Pine Grove, Pioneer, Plymouth, River Pines, Sutter Creek,
Volcano
Butte
Total: 23,452
Medical Baseline: 1,762
Bangor, Berry Creek, Brush Creek, Butte
Meadows, Butte Valley, Chico, Clipper Mills, Cohasset, Feather
Falls, Forbestown, Forest Ranch, Hurleton, Magalia, Oroville,
Palermo, Paradise, Paradise Pines, Rackerby, Stirling City, Yankee
Hill
Calaveras
Total: 14,586
Medical Baseline: 449
Angels Camp, Arnold, Avery, Camp Connell,
Dorrington, Douglas Flat, Glencoe, Hathaway Pines, Mokelumne Hill,
Mountain Ranch, Murphys, Rail Road Flat, San Andreas, Sheep Ranch,
Vallecito, Valley Springs, West Point, White Pines, Wilseyville
El Dorado
Total: 39,786
Medical Baseline: 1,917
Aukum, Cameron Park, Canyon, Camino,
Coloma, Cool, Diamond Springs, El Dorado, Fair Play, Garden Valley,
Georgetown, Greenwood, Grizzly Flats, Kelsey, Kyburz, Lotus, Mount
Aukum, Omo Ranch, Pacific House, Pilot Hill, Placerville, Pollock
Pines, Rescue, Shingle Springs, Silver Fork, Somerset, Twin
Bridges
Lake
Total: 1,895
Medical Baseline: 65
Cobb, Kelseyville, Loch Lomond,
Middletown, Upper Lake
Mendocino
Total: 862
Medical Baseline: 30
Fort Bragg, Hopland, Potter Valley,
Redwood Valley, Ukiah, Yorkville
Napa
Total: 9,623
Medical Baseline: 206
Angwin, Calistoga, Deer Park, Lake
Berryessa, Napa, Oakville, Pope Valley, Rutherford, St Helena,
Yountville
Nevada
Total: 37,098
Medical Baseline: 1,630
Chicago Park, Grass Valley, Nevada City,
North San Juan, Penn Valley, Rough And Ready, Soda Springs,
Washington
Placer
Total: 18,773
Medical Baseline: 820
Alta, Applegate, Auburn, Baxter, Colfax,
Dutch Flat, Emigrant Gap, Foresthill, Gold Run, Lincoln, Loomis,
Meadow Vista, Newcastle, Rocklin, Sheridan, Weimar, Christian
Valley
Plumas
Total: 785
Medical Baseline: 6
Belden, Bucks Lake, La Porte, Quincy,
Storrie, Tobin, Twain
San Mateo
Total: 6,462
Medical Baseline: 104
Emerald Hills, Half Moon Bay, La Honda,
Loma Mar, Pescadero, Portola Valley, Rackerby, Redwood City, San
Gregorio, Woodside
Sierra
Total: 1,160
Medical Baseline: 14
Alleghany, Downieville, Goodyears Bar,
Pike, Sierra City
Sonoma
Total: 33,613
Medical Baseline: 1,082
Annapolis, Boyes Hot Springs, Cloverdale,
Fulton, Geyserville, Glen Ellen, Guerneville, Healdsburg, Kenwood,
Larkfield, Santa Rosa, Sonoma, Windsor
Sutter
Total: 229
Medical Baseline: 4
Pleasant Grove, Rio Oso
Yuba
Total: 7,474
Medical Baseline: 447
Browns Valley, Brownsville, Camptonville,
Challenge, Dobbins, Loma Rica, Marysville, Oregon House,
Smartsville, Strawberry Valley, Wheatland
Improvements Since the Last
PSPS
A number of improvements have been implemented since the last
PSPS event on October 9-12. For example:
- For this event, customers visiting the pge.com website are
being redirected to a special, strength-tested site that can
accommodate high volumes of traffic. The temporary site provides
address lookup for affected customers, Community Resource Center
locations as they become available, and other PSPS event-related
information. During this time, online services such as energy bill
payment, will be unavailable until after power has been
restored.
- In addition, the company’s contact center will be better able
to manage increased call volume due to the event and is
prioritizing emergency, outage and PSPS-related inquiries. All
other normal business inquiries for topics such as bill payment,
account balances, appointments, and starting or stopping service
will be able to use the self-service option or will be asked to
call after the PSPS period.
- On Wednesday, Community Resource Centers will be opened across
the affected areas to provide restrooms, bottled water,
electronic-device charging and air-conditioned seating. The centers
will be accessible to customers with functional needs and will be
staffed from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. until the areas are fully restored
to power. Locations will be posted on the event website, accessible
via pge.com.
- The company is working to strengthen coordination with
government agencies, in particular the counties, cities, and tribal
governments in its service area. It has established a single point
of contact for each county and now has a dedicated agency helpline
monitored 24/7 for special requests from counties and tribes.
Public Safety Power Shutoff
Criteria
No single factor drives a Public Safety Power Shutoff, as each
situation is unique. PG&E carefully reviews a combination of
many criteria when determining if power should be turned off for
safety. These factors generally include, but are not limited
to:
- A Red Flag Warning declared by the National Weather
Service
- Low humidity levels, generally 20 percent and below
- Forecasted sustained winds generally above 25 mph and wind
gusts in excess of approximately 45 mph, depending on location and
site-specific conditions such as temperature, terrain and local
climate
- Condition of dry fuel on the ground and live vegetation
(moisture content)
- On-the-ground, real-time observations from PG&E’s Wildfire
Safety Operations Center and observations from PG&E field
crews
How Customers Can
Prepare
As part of PSPS preparedness efforts, PG&E is asking
customers to:
- Plan for medical needs like medications that require
refrigeration or devices that need power.
- Identify backup charging methods for phones and keep hard
copies of emergency numbers.
- Build or restock your emergency kit with flashlights, fresh
batteries, first aid supplies and cash.
- Keep in mind family members who are elderly, younger children
and pets.
- Learn more about wildfire risk and what to do before, during
and after an emergency to keep your family safe at PG&E’s
Safety Action Center.
While customers in high fire-threat areas are more likely to be
affected by a Public Safety Power Shutoff event, any of PG&E's
more than 5 million electric customers could have their power shut
off because the energy system relies on power lines working
together to provide electricity across cities, counties and
regions. This PSPS event is expected to be smaller in scope than
the Oct. 9-12 PSPS.
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 16 million people in
Northern and Central California. For more information, visit
www.pge.com and www.pge.com/news.
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