15 Things You Need to Know About PG&E’s Oct. 9-12 Public Safety Power Shutoff

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.