By Jim Carlton and Erin Ailworth
LAKE BERRYESSA, Calif -- PG&E Corp. turned off power to
about 22,000 customers in Northern California this weekend as part
of the first wave of what the utility has said will likely be
numerous pre-emptive shutdowns this year to help prevent deadly
wildfires.
It came after the National Weather Service issued its first
red-flag warning, which signals high fire danger, of 2019 for a
region that has until now been mostly cool and moist.
About 1,600 businesses and homes in parts of Napa, Yolo and
Solano counties, located about 75 miles northeast of San Francisco
lost power from 6 a.m. Saturday morning until late that night.
Also Saturday night, PG&E shut off power to more than 20,000
customers in Butte and Yuba counties, including the town of
Paradise, which was destroyed by the Camp Fire last year. By Sunday
afternoon, power had been restored for 6,000, the company said.
Paradise resident Robert Broome, who weathered the Camp Fire
inside his home after unsuccessfully trying to evacuate, said
Saturday night's outage was inconvenient but better than another
deadly blaze. "It's what they should have done last time and they
didn't," the online radio host said Sunday from his house, where
the power went out at about 9 p.m. the previous evening.
The San Francisco-based company earlier this year announced its
plan to become the first utility in the U.S. to intentionally shut
off power to help prevent its transmission equipment from igniting
a fire. PG&E owns and operates thousands of miles of power
lines that snake through tinder-dry forests and brush and has said
its equipment likely sparked the 153,000-acre Camp Fire last
November, killing 85 people. California officials have since
verified PG&E's culpability.
State records show PG&E equipment has caused hundreds of
other fires in recent years. The company filed for bankruptcy
protection in January to protect itself from wildfire-related
liability.
PG&E warned Friday afternoon that the Napa County resort
town of Lake Berryessa might be among the areas to face blackouts
this weekend. Nonetheless, Saturday morning's shutdown came as an
unpleasant wake-up call to the boat shops and other businesses that
cater to crowds of people visiting the 16-mile-long reservoir
perched in a rugged mountain.
"This is better than having a fire, but it definitely makes it
difficult, " Josh Grimstad, manager of Lake Berryessa Boat &
Jet Ski Rentals, said that morning in a dark office with no working
phones and a long line of customers.
An office assistant retrieved reservations from a desktop
computer powered by a portable generator too weak to provide energy
to much else. Most customers took the inconvenience in stride,
although 45-year-old Gabriel Garcia grumbled that PG&E was
doing too little too late.
"Now they're taking all these precautions," said Mr. Garcia, a
carpenter from Napa who was renting a WaveRunner boat to ride with
his 8-year-old son. "They didn't before all of these fires."
Other people praised PG&E for taking precautionary
steps.
"If we can get adjusted to these outages, it's worth it, because
these fires just kill business," said Mike Medina, co-owner of the
55-site Spanish Flat Campground along Lake Berryessa.
Mr. Medina and two partners struggled Saturday to load about a
dozen empty gasoline containers onto a pickup truck so they could
get fuel to keep a generator running. The campground needs power in
part to keep 200 bags of ice worth about $1,000 from melting, they
said.
PG&E previously warned that in such shutdowns, electricity
wouldn't be restored for at least 24 hours and possibly days longer
until crews can inspect power lines for any damage.
"We understand people without power is an inconvenience, but we
are doing this for the safety of the communities," said Paul
Moreno, a spokesman for the utility.
The Turtle Rock Bar & Cafe -- a popular biker haunt with
dollar bills festooning to the ceiling -- sat just outside the
blackout area. Owner Pete Leung said he invested in a $20,000
generator last December, believing that power outages would become
more commonplace in the region. Two years ago, the business barely
escaped the flames of a wildfire, which left a trail of dead trees
on all sides.
"They're going to cut your power now, that's the new norm," Mr.
Leung said.
His home atop a nearby ridge did have its electricity turned off
on Saturday, prompting Mr. Leung to do what more residents are
doing: fire up an emergency generator. But with the 8,000-watt
generator consuming five gallons of gasoline every eight hours, he
said it could get expensive if the shutdown lasts too long.
"They don't tell you when they're going to turn the power back
on, and that's the hard part," Mr. Leung, 42, said Saturday
afternoon as he tossed a ball in his backyard for his Labrador
retriever, Sammy.
Write to Jim Carlton at jim.carlton@wsj.com and Erin Ailworth at
Erin.Ailworth@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 09, 2019 17:40 ET (21:40 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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