Putting Safety at the Forefront: PG&E Encourages Customers to Plan Ahead for Upcoming Weather System
April 23 2021 - 5:00PM
Business Wire
After a Dry March in Much of Northern and
Central California, Meteorologists Forecasting Rain and Mountain
Snow
As PG&E’s meteorology team monitors a weather system headed
for Northern and Central California this weekend, the company has a
plan to safely respond to outages and reminds customers to also
have a plan to stay safe.
Forecasts indicate that Northern California will experience
rainfall and mountain snow beginning Saturday. Meteorologists
expect the system to move through the Bay Area on Sunday. Some
rainfall is also expected in Central California on Sunday.
"This system could bring much-needed moisture to our
drought-affected service area, but at the same time, we might also
see weather-related power outages. Our team is closely watching
this rainfall so that we can stand ready to restore power safely
and as quickly as possible. We also urge our customers to stay safe
and have a plan,” said Scott Strenfel, PG&E manager of
meteorology and fire science.
PG&E’s meteorology team has developed a Storm Outage
Prediction Model that incorporates real-time weather forecasts, 30
years of historical weather and outage data and system knowledge to
predict where and when storm effects will be most severe. This
model enables the company to pre-stage crews and equipment as
weather approaches to enable safe and rapid response to
outages.
PG&E is urging its customers to also take the necessary
steps to be prepared and stay safe.
Safety Tips:
- Never touch downed wires: If you see a downed power
line, assume it is energized and extremely dangerous. Do not touch
or try to move it—and keep children and animals away. Report downed
power lines immediately by calling 911 and by calling PG&E at
1-800-743-5002.
- Use flashlights, not candles: During a power outage, use
battery-operated flashlights, and not candles, due to the risk of
fire. If you must use candles, please keep them away from drapes,
lampshades and small children. Do not leave candles
unattended.
- Have a backup phone: If you have a telephone system that
requires electricity to work, such as a cordless phone or answering
machine, plan to have a standard telephone or cellular phone ready
as a backup.
- Have fresh drinking water, ice: Freeze plastic
containers filled with water to make blocks of ice that can be
placed in your refrigerator/freezer during an outage to prevent
foods from spoiling. Blue Ice from your picnic cooler also works
well in the freezer.
- Use generators safely: Customers with standby electric
generators should make sure they are properly installed by a
licensed electrician in a well-ventilated area. Improperly
installed generators pose a significant danger to customers, as
well as crews working on power lines. If using portable generators,
be sure they are in a well-ventilated area.
- Turn off appliances: If you experience an outage, unplug
or turn off all electrical appliances to avoid overloading circuits
and to prevent fire hazards when power is restored. Simply leave a
single lamp on to alert you when power returns. Turn your
appliances back on one at a time when conditions return to
normal.
- Safely clean up: After the inclement weather has passed,
be sure to safely clean up. Never touch downed wires and always
call 811 or visit 811express.com at least two full business days
before digging to have all underground utilities safely
marked.
Other tips can be found at pge.com/beprepared.
About PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E
Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is a combined natural gas and electric
utility serving more than 16 million people across 70,000 square
miles in Northern and Central California. For more information,
visit pge.com and pge.com/news.
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