LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Pacific Gas and Electric, which said it is continuing to monitor weather conditions, has updated its plans for a massive public safety power shutoff encompassing 30 counties and more than 600,000 customers that’s proposed to take place this week.
It if takes place, the shutoff – which is scheduled to begin at 4 a.m. Wednesday – could impact approximately 645,456 PG&E customers across Northern California, among them 26,549 medical baseline customers, the company reported.
Besides Lake, the counties slated to be included in the public safety power shutoff are Alameda, Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Glenn, Mariposa, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Tehama, Tuolumne, Yolo and Yuba, PG&E said.
All of the counties listed as subject to the power shutoff for Wednesday and Thursday are still under the “watch” stage, based on PG&E’s Web site. In that stage, PG&E’s Emergency Operations Center “is activated for a reasonable chance of executing PSPS for public safety in a given geographic zone due to a combination of adverse weather and dry fuel conditions.” The “watch” stage is the stage second only to “warning.”
Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin had warned on Sunday night that a power shutoff could begin on Wednesday at 6 a.m. and continue until Thursday, with reenergization expected to take up to five days due to the large anticipated shutoff area, as Lake County News has reported.
The power shutoff in Lake County is anticipated to be wide-ranging. PG&E said that, as planned, the shutoff will impact 26,430 customers, including 1,662 medical baseline customers, in Clearlake, Clearlake Oaks, Clearlake Park, Cobb, Glenhaven, Hidden Valley Lake, Kelseyville, Lakeport, Loch Lomond, Lower Lake, Lucerne, Middletown, Nice, Upper Lake and Witter Springs.
Driving the planned shutoff is weather. Lake County and much of Northern California remains under a fire weather watch issued by the National Weather Service that’s in effect from 5 a.m. Wednesday through 5 p.m. Thursday, and on Monday was expanded to include much of the northern San Joaquin Valley.
On Monday the the National Weather Service issued a wind advisory beginning at 5 a.m. Wednesday and continuing until 12 a.m. Thursday.
The National Weather Service said the wind event forecast to start on Wednesday is expected to be the strongest of the season so far.
Based on the latest weather forecasts and models, PG&E anticipates the period of peak winds will occur from early Wednesday morning and last through Thursday midday.
While it had posted on its Web site about the potential for power shutoffs beginning over the weekend, Pacific Gas and Electric directly notified Lake County customers via phone, text and email on Monday that it was considering proactively turning off power on Wednesday due to the weather conditions.
Schools, local governments prepare
Lake County News confirmed with the superintendents of Lakeport Unified, Lucerne Elementary, Middletown Unified and Upper Lake Unified that if the shutoff started while school was in session they would finish the school day.
However, if the power is shut off outside of school hours – as PG&E now proposes to do – no school will be held that day and as long as the shutoff continues, school officials said.
Middletown Unified Superintendent Catherine Stone said the district doesn’t have generators that would allow it to remain open in the event of a shutoff.
“When we have no power, we have no school,” Stone said.
Lakeport Unified Superintendent Jill Falconer sent out a statement to families on Monday night, which also was posted on the district’s Facebook page, sharing with them the plans for when school would be open or closed.
She said the district determines the start of the school day to be 6 a.m., when the buses go out to start picking up students, “therefore if we have no power at 6:00 a.m., all schools will be closed until the power is restored.”
Falconer said the district will keep families updated through its student information system, Web site and Facebook page.
For the public at large, a customer resource center will be open and operational on Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Clearlake Senior Center, located at 3245 Bowers Ave. in Clearlake, PG&E said.
At a Clearlake City Council meeting last month, City Manager Alan Flora reported that the city had entered into a contract with PG&E to use the senior center as the community resource center, the only local for such a facility confirmed in Lake County so far.
Flora said the center will provide water, information, electronic device charging and wifi capability but no food or other services. PG&E is to staff the center exclusively and provide security.
In neighboring Mendocino County, 6,000 customers in Boonville, Calpella, Fort Bragg, Hopland, Potter Valley, Redwood Valley, Talmage, Ukiah and Willits are in the proposed outage area, PG&E said.
In Napa County, PG&E said 32,124 customers in American Canyon, Angwin, Calistoga, Deer Park, Lake Berryessa, Napa, Oakville, Pope Valley, Saint Helena and Yountville could be without power.
The county of Sonoma and the city of Santa Rosa reported that they are preparing to respond to the impacts of a possible power shutoff.
PG&E said there are 66,289 customers that will be impacted in Santa Rosa, Sonoma, Petaluma, Healdsburg, Cloverdale, Glen Ellen, Penngrove, Geyserville, Kenwood, Rohnert Park, Windsor, Annapolis, Stewarts Point, Cotati, Cazadero, Guerneville, Larkfield, El Verano, Boyes Hot Springs, Fulton and Bodega Bay.
The city of Santa Rosa activated its emergency operation center at 3 p.m. Monday and the county of Sonoma will active its emergency operation center at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
Officials said both the county of Sonoma and the city of Santa Rosa have declared proclamations of local emergency, so that both agencies may be better prepared to quickly respond to the needs of the community in the event of a widespread shutdown.
To learn more about a PG&E’s power shutoff, visit www.PGE.com/weather or www.pge.com/psps, or call PG&E’s 24-hour power outage information center at 1-800-743-5002.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.