LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Pacific Gas and Electric said it has determined the causes of two separate power outages that impacted south county communities over the weekend.
The outages, which took place on Saturday and Sunday, occurred during the midst of the latest heat wave, as Lake County News has reported.
The first outage, which began at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, impacted 885 customer accounts in Hidden Valley Lake, Middletown and Lower Lake, said PG&E spokesperson Deanna Contreras.
“Several PG&E ‘troublemen’ were dispatched to the area where a fault was detected on the line, on Old Spruce Grove Road, east of Highway 29,” said Contreras. “They inspected the area several times but the cause of the fault was not found.”
She said that, due to the high fire threat rating on Saturday, PG&E wanted to ensure the line was 100% inspected before re-energizing it.
Crews also used a helicopter early Sunday morning to inspect the line to ensure debris or vegetation was not on the line, she said.
Contreras said power was completely restored to all of the impacted customers by 9 a.m. Sunday.
“We thank everyone for their patience and for their understanding, especially during the high temperatures, as we wanted to ensure the line in this high fire-threat area was safe to re-energize,” she said.
The second outage began at about 5:19 p.m. Sunday, said Contreras.
She said power was disrupted again to about 540 customers just in the Hidden Valley Lake area for about three hours.
“Crews were checking that Spruce Grove Road area again and they did find the cause to be impacted electrical equipment. I can say this outage was heat-related,” Contreras said.
She said the repairs were made and power was restored by 9:21 p.m. Sunday.
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PG&E reports on causes of weekend outages
- Elizabeth Larson
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