California Regulators Approve Power Outages to Prevent More Wildfires

Outages could mean multi-day blackouts for cities as large as San Francisco and San Jose

 

In this Nov. 8, 2018 file photo, a home burns as a wildfire called Camp Fire rages through Paradise, Calif. Pacific, Gas & Electric Co. initially planned to de-energize local powers lines in vulnerable rural areas during high winds, but has expanded its precautionary power outages to urban areas that could mean multi-day blackouts for cities as larges as San Francisco and San Jose, which could endanger some who depend on electricity for their life support. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)

 

By DON THOMPSON Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California regulators on Thursday approved allowing utilities to cut off electricity to possibly hundreds of thousands of customers to avoid catastrophic wildfires like the one sparked by power lines last year that killed 85 people and largely destroyed the city of Paradise.

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Utilities’ liability can reach billions of dollars, and after several years of devastating wildfires, they asked regulators to allow them to pull the plug when fire risk is extremely high. That’s mainly during periods of excessive winds and low humidity when vegetation is dried out and can easily ignite.

The California Public Utilities Commission gave the green light but said utilities must do a better job educating and notifying the public, particularly those with disabilities and others who are vulnerable, and ramp up preventive efforts, such as clearing brush and installing fire-resistant poles.

The plans could inconvenience hundreds of thousands of customers while endangering some who depend on electricity to keep them alive, like 56-year-old Kallithea Miller.

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Although she lives far from wildfire danger near a shopping mall in Stockton, south of Sacramento, she relies on a refrigerator to cool her insulin and a machine to keep her breathing at night.

“I could die in my sleep,” she said. “It’s scaring the hell out of me.”

The precautionary outages could mean multiday blackouts for cities as large as San Francisco and San Jose, Northern California’s major power provider warned in a recent filing with the utilities commission.

Pacific Gas & Electric anticipates cutting the power only in “truly extreme fire danger weather” while recognizing that there “are safety risks on both sides of this issue,” vice president Aaron Johnson said.

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PG&E initially planned to de-energize power lines in at-risk rural areas but has since expanded its plans to include high-voltage transmission lines like the one that sparked the nation’s deadliest wildfire in a century. The blaze last November killed 85 people while wiping out nearly 15,000 homes in and around Paradise.

“I know it inconveniences people, but it’s a small price to pay for not having the kind of devastation that we had in Paradise,” Mayor Jody Jones said. “Everyone I know in Paradise knew that PG&E might cut the power off. I didn’t see that as a problem. The problem was that they didn’t actually shut it off.”

Utility equipment has been blamed for many of California’s most destructive and deadly wildfires in recent years.

Other major California utilities have similar plans that commissioners unanimously approved Thursday, also warning that outages could extend into cities under some conditions.

“We’re worried about it because we could see people’s power shut off not for a day or two but potentially a week,” Gov. Gavin News

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Outages could mean multi-day blackouts for cities as large as San Francisco and San Jose     By DON THOMPSON Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California regulators on Thursday approved allowing utilities to cut off electricity to possibly hundreds of thousands of customers to avoid catastrophic wildfires like the one sparked by power lines […]

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