Forecasted Highest Winds & Driest Conditions of the Season Mean PG&E May Need to Proactively Turn Off Power for Safety to Cus...
October 24 2020 - 3:18PM
Business Wire
Customers Who Might Be Affected by the Public
Safety Power Shutoff are Continuing to Receive Notifications Today,
One Day Ahead of the Potential Event
Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s (PG&E) Emergency
Operations Center, Meteorology team and Wildfire Safety Operations
Center are working together and tracking a significant, offshore
wind event starting Sunday that is forecast to have the driest
humidity levels and the strongest winds of the wildfire season thus
far.
PG&E has notified customers in targeted portions of 38
counties about a potential Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS)
expected to start as early as Sunday morning (Oct. 25). Extremely
dry, windy conditions with high gusts pose an increased risk for
damage to the electric system that has the potential to ignite
fires in areas with critically dry vegetation.
While there is still uncertainty regarding the strength and
timing of this weather wind event, high fire-risk conditions are
expected to arrive Sunday morning. High winds are currently
expected to subside Monday morning (Oct. 26) in most impacted
areas, with windy conditions lingering in some regions through
early Tuesday (Oct. 27). PG&E will then patrol the de-energized
lines to assess whether they were damaged during the wind event.
PG&E will safely restore power as quickly as possible, with the
goal of restoring most customers within 12 daylight hours, based on
current weather conditions.
The highest probability areas for this PSPS include terrain of
the northern and western Sacramento Valley, Northern and Central
Sierra as well as higher terrain of the Bay Area, including the
Santa Cruz Mountains, Central Coast Region and portions of southern
Kern.
Customer Notification and Impact
The potential PSPS event is still approximately 24 hours
away. PG&E in-house meteorologists, as well as staff in its
Wildfire Safety Operations Center and Emergency Operations Center,
will continue to monitor conditions closely and will actively look
for opportunities to reduce the scope of the impacts based on
evolving weather models and PSPS mitigation efforts such as the use
of sectionalizing devices and temporary generation. Additional
customer notifications will be issued as we move closer to the
potential event.
Customer notifications—via text, email and automated phone
call—began Friday afternoon, approximately two days prior to the
potential shutoff. 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 in
person by a PG&E employee with a knock on their door when
possible. A primary focus will be given to customers who rely on
electricity for critical life-sustaining equipment.
Customers can look up their address online to find out if their
location is being monitored for the potential safety shutoff, and
find the full list of affected counties, cities and communities at
www.pge.com/pspsupdates.
Community Resource Centers Reflect COVID-Safety
Protocols
PG&E will open 109 Community Resource Centers (CRCs) to
support our customers. Locations of these CRCs is available at
PG&E’s emergency website (pge.com/pspsupdates). These temporary
CRCs will be open to customers when power is out at their homes and
will provide ADA-accessible restrooms and hand-washing stations;
medical-equipment charging; Wi-Fi; bottled water; and
non-perishable snacks.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, all CRCs will follow
important health and safety protocols including:
- Facial coverings and maintaining a physical distance of at
least six feet from those who are not part of the same household
will be required at all CRCs.
- Temperature checks will be administered before entering CRCs
that are located indoors.
- CRC staff will be trained in COVID-19 precautions and will
regularly sanitize surfaces and use Plexiglass barriers at
check-in.
- All CRCs will follow county and state requirements regarding
COVID-19, including limits on the number of customers permitted
indoors at any time.
Besides these health protocols, customers visiting a CRC in 2020
will experience further changes, including a different look and
feel. In addition to using existing indoor facilities, PG&E is
planning to open CRCs at outdoor, open-air sites in some locations
and use large commercial vans as CRCs in other locations. CRC
locations will depend on a number of factors, including input from
local and tribal leaders. Outdoor CRCs will provide grab-and-go
supply bags so most customers can be on their way quickly.
Where to Go to Learn More
- PG&E’s emergency website (pge.com/pspsupdates) is now
available in 13 languages. Currently, the website is available in
English, Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Russian, Vietnamese, Korean,
Farsi, Arabic, Hmong, Khmer, Punjabi and Japanese. Customers will
have the opportunity to choose their language of preference for
viewing the information when visiting the website.
- Customers are encouraged to update their contact information
and indicate their preferred language for notifications by visiting
pge.com/mywildfirealerts or by calling 1-800-743-5000, where
in-language support is available.
- Tenants and non-account holders can sign up to receive PSPS ZIP
Code Alerts for any area where you do not have a PG&E account
by visiting pge.com/pspszipcodealerts.
- PG&E has launched a new tool at its online Safety Action
Center (safetyactioncenter.pge.com) to help customers prepare. By
using the "Make Your Own Emergency Plan" tool and answering a few
short questions, visitors to the website can compile and organize
the important information needed for a personalized family
emergency plan. This includes phone numbers, escape routes and a
family meeting location if an evacuation is necessary.
How Customers Can Prepare for a PSPS
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 elderly family members, younger children and pets.
Information and tips including a safety plan checklist are
available at pge.com/psps.
- Continue to monitor PG&E’s new weather forecasting web page
at pge.com/weather which is a dedicated page with weather
forecasting information and a daily 7-day PSPS lookahead.
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 company 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 http://www.pge.com/about/newsroom/.
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