PG&E has already restored power to
approximately 74% of customers affected by the Oct. 21 PSPS
12 Community Resource Centers Open Until 10
p.m. Tonight and Re-Opening at 8 a.m. Friday to Provide Customers
with Water, Restrooms, Device Charging and More
Potential Future PSPS Update: Another Wind
Event Expected Sunday Morning Which Could Mean Turning Off Power to
Customers in Targeted Portions of Select Counties
By late Friday (Oct. 23), Pacific Gas and Electric Company
(PG&E) expects to restore power to essentially all the 31,000
PG&E customers in seven counties who are affected by the Public
Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) that began on Wednesday (Oct. 21).
PG&E turned off the power to these customers, the majority
living in Shasta, Butte and Tehama counties, to protect their
safety and the safety of their communities because of strong, windy
weather that elevated the risk of wildfires in Northern and Central
California. Due to changing weather conditions Wednesday evening,
PG&E was able to decrease customer impact by another 16% than
previously estimated, removing about 6,000 customers and eight
counties from the scope.
PG&E meteorologists forecast that the strongest winds will
subside Friday morning, enabling crews to begin patrolling power
lines (by air, vehicle and on foot) to ensure that no damage or
hazards exist before those lines can be re-energized and those
customers restored. PG&E expects all customers who can receive
service will be back in power by 10 p.m. Friday.
Meanwhile, PG&E meteorologists are monitoring an additional
potential wind event due to arrive Sunday. Although it’s still
three days away and weather conditions can rapidly change, it has
the potential to be a larger scale event than the PSPS event that
began Wednesday, Oct. 21. Tomorrow, the company plans to begin
notifications two days in advance of the event for potentially
impacted customers indicating the possibility of another power
shutoff for safety Sunday morning.
“Our crews have been patrolling lines in helicopters, in
vehicles, and on foot today and will continue into Friday in order
to safely restore customers’ power as soon as possible. We know
that being without power represents a hardship, especially for
customers who might have to lose power a second time within a week.
We are making every effort to restore power by Friday at latest so
that our customers can run their appliances, recharge their devices
and do what’s needed before the power potentially goes off again on
Sunday morning,” said Mark Quinlan, a PG&E senior director and
incident commander for the PSPS events.
Here are some updates related to the two PSPS events:
Current Oct. 21-23 Public Safety Power Shutoff
The PSPS that began Wednesday evening remains in place for some
customers and PG&E is continuing to monitor conditions across
the de-energized areas.
The top three recorded wind gust speeds by noon today were 56,
52 and 45 miles per hour. in Shasta, Butte and Yolo counties
respectively, with humidity and fuel moisture levels remaining
low.
Crews have already restored power to about 74 percent of
customers affected by the Oct. 21 PSPS, with about 8,000 customers
remaining as of 7:30 p.m.
Community Resource Centers
To support our customers, beginning Wednesday, PG&E planned
to open 20 Community Resource Centers (CRCs) that operate from 8
a.m. to 10 p.m. through the current PSPS event. However, seven of
these locations were cancelled last night after the weather risk
lessened and those areas were removed from the event scope as they
did not have to be de-energized. An additional CRC closed once all
customers in Glenn County were restored this evening. Thirteen
temporary CRCs are now open to customers when power is out at their
homes and provide ADA-accessible restrooms, hand-washing stations,
medical-equipment charging, Wi-Fi; bottled water, grab-and-go bags
and non-perishable snacks.
PG&E will also open CRCs for affected customers should the
potential Oct. 24-26 PSPS come to fruition.
For updates on the CRCs, check here.
Potential Future Oct. 24-26 Public Safety Power
Shutoff
PG&E meteorology is tracking and forecasting a potential
PSPS event encompassing areas and adjacent terrain of the northern
and western Sacramento Valley, Northern and Central Sierra, higher
terrain of the Bay Area, the Santa Cruz Mountains, Central Coast
Region and portions of southern Kern.
Support for Customers with Medical Needs
In order to support customers during both PSPS events, PG&E
is also partnering with 30 community-based organizations (CBOs) to
assist customers with medical, financial, language and aging needs
before, during and after PSPS events. These activities include:
- Collaborating with the California Foundation for Independent
Living Centers (CFILC) through a grant program to support the
Access and Functional Needs (AFN) community. This support for
customers with medical and independent living needs includes:
- Enabling qualifying customers who use electrical medical
devices to access backup portable batteries
- Emergency preparedness outreach and education
- Promotion of Medical Baseline Program
- Accessible transportation resources
- Hotel stays
- Food stipends
- Working with nine food banks and 10 local Meals on Wheels
chapters.
- Expanding availability of materials in American Sign Language
(ASL).
- Establishing an advisory group to help create solutions for
emergency preparedness for customers with medical needs.
Details about these resources are at our website at
pge.com/disabilityandaging.
So far in 2020, more than 1,000 portable batteries have been
provided to vulnerable customers via the CFILC’s Disability
Disaster Access and Resources Program and through PG&E’s
Portable Battery Program.
Here’s 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. In addition,
PG&E’s contact center has translation services available in
over 200 languages. Customers who need in-language support over the
phone can contact us by calling 1-833-208-4167.
- For additional language support services including how to set
language preference, select options for obtaining translated
notifications, and receive other translated resources on PSPS,
customers can visit pge.com/pspslanguagehelp. This website is also
available in 13 languages as listed above.
- 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. PG&E’s
contact center has translation services available in over 200
languages.
- 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 at 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.
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
pge.com and pge.com/news.
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