California’s most destructive wildfire in history, the so-called “Camp” fire, burned more than 1800 structures and took 86 lives. The November 2018 fire was sparked by a Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&A) power transmission line above Poe Dam near Pulga, California, and raged for 18 days, burning through and destroying the entire town of Paradise in the first day.
Liability for utility-caused wildfires has pushed PG&E into bankruptcy. Now, with fire season underway again, PG&E has notified consumers that it may shut down power to whole communities during high-risk fire conditions. The prospect has Californians worried, reported the San Francisco Chronicle (see: “‘Absolutely catastrophic’: Northern California braces for more PG&E shut-offs,” by J. D. Morris).
“PG&E has used its aggressive new strategy to prevent its equipment from starting another fire only on one weekend so far this year,” the paper reported. “But the utility is poised to turn off the lights much more often in the coming months as hot, dry and windy weather persists during the most dangerous part of wildfire season. The impacts may be extreme and unprecedented, cutting entire cities off from the electric grid for several days in the worst-case scenarios. In those instances, stoplights and even cell phones could stop working properly, local officials say, snarling traffic and hamstringing residents’ ability to communicate.”
“We will attempt to reach customers through calls, texts and emails using the contact information we have on file,” PG&E said in an advisory (see: “Community Wildfire Safety Program Public Safety Power Shutoff”). Warnings will go out 48 hours and 24 hours before shutoffs occur, if possible, the utility said.
Community leaders are particularly concerned about the risk to medically vulnerable individuals who rely on electricity for such equipment as respirators or dialysis machines, reported the Los Angeles Times (see: “Power shutoffs can prevent wildfires, but put vulnerable people at risk,” by Taryn Luna). Reported the Times: “Local leaders and public health workers fear that hundreds of thousands of vulnerable Californians could find themselves in increasingly dire situations. They also acknowledge there are wrenching trade-offs. ‘This is a really tough situation,’ said Karen Relucio, a public health officer in Napa County. ‘If they don’t shut off the power, you may have a county that catches on fire. But if they do shut off the power, you may have someone who dies because their respirator shuts off.'”
