15 Things You Need to Know About PG&E’s Oct. 9-12 Public Safety Power Shutoff
October 14 2019 - 10:20PM
Business Wire
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) shared this fact
sheet, “15 Things You Need to Know About PG&E’s Oct. 9-12
Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS)” today.
During the PSPS Event
1.
PG&E crews and contractors inspected nearly 25,000 miles of
distribution lines and 2,500 miles of transmission lines after the
event, a combined distance that’s longer than a trip around the
Earth.
2.
More than 100 instances of damage were found during inspections,
including trees into lines and downed power lines, with the
analysis of additional damage reports ongoing. It is possible that
any one of these instances could have been a potential source of
ignition had a PSPS not been initiated.
3.
PG&E’s meteorologists and fire-weather experts participated
in daily interagency calls with experts from multiple National
Weather Service (NWS) offices and the Northern Operations
Predictive Services. All the experts were aligned that this was a
very high fire risk event and had all the ingredients necessary for
significant fires. The National Weather Service issued a Red Flag
Warning that lasted from Wednesday afternoon until Friday morning
that included locations where 2.1 million of PG&E’s customers
live. The Red Flag Warning encompassed a larger area than the PSPS
footprint. Maximum wind gusts exceeded 50 mph in 16 counties
impacted by the PSPS event:
- Sonoma County: 77 mph
- Contra Costa County: 75 mph
- Tehama County: 61 mph
- Sierra County: 59 mph
- Butte County: 56 mph
- Napa County: 54 mph
- Santa Cruz County: 54 mph
- Placer County: 53 mph
- Yolo County: 53 mph
- Solano County: 53 mph
- Alameda County: 52 mph
- Humboldt County: 52 mph
- Kern County: 51 mph
- Lake County: 51 mph
- Mendocino County: 51
- Santa Barbara County: 50 mph
4.
The vast majority of the 738,000 customers in 35 counties
impacted by the PSPS were restored within 48 hours.
5.
Representatives from CAL FIRE, the CPUC and Cal OES were in
PG&E’s Emergency Operations Center, participating in
discussions. The company also held twice daily calls with state
agencies and calls with county agencies three times a day. To
prepare for wildfire season, weekly meetings were held with state
agencies and 17 planning workshops were held with cities, counties
and public-safety agencies.
6.
In all, 6,300 personnel, including PG&E workers and
contractors, supported the PSPS.
7.
PG&E dispatched 44 helicopters to do aerial inspections.
8.
PG&E’s Customer Care team completed multiple daily
notifications to customers before, during and after the event. This
includes notifications and support of more than 30,000 Medical
Baseline customers.
9.
PG&E opened more than 30 Community Resource Centers in
PSPS-affected areas, providing water, restrooms, phone-charging and
other services. In all, more than 5,400 customers visited a
CRC.
10.
PG&E placed advertisements on TV, radio and digital sites.
The company used Facebook, its nine Twitter accounts, and NextDoor
to share updates on the PSPS and conducted more than 900 interviews
with media during the event.
Before the PSPS Event
11.
In 2012, just 15% of PG&E’s territory was designated as
having an elevated wildfire risk on the fire-threat maps in effect
at that time. Today, in 2019, approximately 50% of the service area
is in Tier 2 or Tier 3 high fire-threat areas.
12.
PG&E’s electric infrastructure underwent an unprecedent
inspection and repair process earlier this year. More than 700,000
electric-system poles, towers and substations were inspected, and
any items needing immediate repair were repaired.
13.
To prepare for wildfire season, PG&E sent letters/emails to
about 5 million customers; sent out more than 7 million
PSPS-related emails; participated in 998 meetings with cities,
counties, customers and community groups; and held 23 community
open house events throughout the service area.
14.
PG&E has installed 600 weather stations and 100
high-definition cameras in high fire-threat districts for increased
situational awareness. PG&E also has deployed its Satellite
Fire Detection and Alerting System, which incorporates data from
five satellites to provide advanced warnings of new potential fire
incidents.
15.
PG&E reached out to its customers to make sure the company
had accurate contact information. So far this year, 246,932
customers have updated their information including 10,966 Medical
Baseline customers.
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
www.pge.com and www.pge.com/news.
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