LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council heard the latest on the potential for electrical shutoffs during the coming fire season from Pacific Gas and Electric last week.
The council received the update on the Community Wildfire Safety Program from PG&E representative Herman Hernandez at the May 7 meeting.
Hernandez discussed the company’s real-time monitoring efforts, new and enhanced safety measures, and system hardening and resilience.
He presented a map that showed that Lakeport and other communities ringing the lake are in a lower fire risk category. However, much of Lake County is in the “Tier 2,” or elevated fire risk, category, while some areas in the south county are “Tier 3,” rated for extreme fire danger.
The Public Safety Power Shutoff Program, which debuted last year, primarily sought to shut off power in the Tier 3 extreme fire risk areas, particularly during red flag weather conditions consisting of low humidity, and high winds and hot temperatures, Hernandez said.
PG&E conducted one power shutoff in October, which impacted thousands of Lake County customers, and Hernandez said the company nearly did a second in early November.
“Last year, the scope was limited,” said Hernandez, explaining that the shutoff focused on areas with 70,000 volts and lower.
This year, the most significant change is they have put everything on the table, with up to 500,000 volt transmission lines now up for consideration for such shutoffs. At that level, it could deenergize an entire service area, which Hernandez said is “pretty significant.”
He added, “That is a worse case scenario.” As a result, the company is telling everyone to develop a plan.
Hernandez said PG&E researched what other areas – like Australia, which also has had extreme fires – are doing to deal with wildfire danger.
PG&E has created a wildfire safety operations center, which is open around the clock during wildland fire season, and also is sometimes activated for floods and big storms, he said.
They’re also installing new weather systems. More than 1,300 are slated to be installed across PG&E’s service area. Hernandez said that, so far, Lake County has four – one in Clearlake, one in Kelseyville and the others in Middletown. Four more are expected to be installed in Lake County this year.
Hernandez said they’re also installing high definition cameras to help with monitoring. There are plans for 600 such cameras systemwide by 2022. Nine were installed last year – one is in Lake County – with another 100 to be installed this year.
PG&E is expanding and enhancing its vegetation management, which is being done on top of its routine work. Hernandez said it includes inspecting and making sure that trees and vegetation are at least 12 feet away from power lines.
In December, PG&E started wildfire safety inspections, which include looking at power facility structures, and lines and arms, with issues fixed immediately or scheduled if they’re not an emergency, Hernandez said. Inspections are completed in a variety of ways – using people, drones and helicopters.
Hernandez said PG&E has completed a beta project in Sonoma County, undergrounding half a mile of transmission lines, which cost $1 million.
He said PG&E is putting everything on the table as it tries to figure out how to address fires.
Other measures the utility company is taking include installing stronger and more resilient poles and covered power lines, work Hernandez said is taking place in Lake County. Overall, the company is replacing 7,100 miles of lines in high fire risk areas.
The company also is focusing on new resilience zones, reconfiguring the grids to power important locations like fire and police departments and city halls during power shutoffs, and installing circuit breakers and reclosers, he said.
Hernandez then discussed what triggers shutoffs.
In 2018, the first year the power safety shutoffs were used by PG&E, the trigger was a red flag warning, which includes low humidity levels, constant winds of 25 miles per hour or more and gusts up to 45 miles per hour, he said.
PG&E’s weather stations and high definition videos will help them identify dry fuel, as will personnel on the ground, he said.
One of the biggest challenges during the first power shutoff was communication with local emergency personnel. Hernandez said that because of Sheriff Brian Martin's leadership, the company was able to improve that communication.
He said PG&E's goal, which it didn’t meet last year, is that when it sees a concerning weather system, that it calls a potential public safety power shutoff within 48 hours of the system occurring in order to warn customers and local governments.
PG&E called for two shutoffs – one that occurred and one that it canceled – within 36 hours last year, he said.
After a shutoff occurs, Hernandez said PG&E has to wait until the weather system moves through before sending out crews to begin inspecting lines. That’s why it takes a lot longer to reenergize in summer as compared to winter.
The process includes getting the weather all clear, patrolling and inspecting, isolating and repairing damage, restoring power and notifying customers, he said
Hernandez said that during the October power shutoff, there was some weather-caused damage to power infrastructure, but he couldn’t say if it would have started a fire.
“We're not saying this is going to prevent fires but we're saying it's going to keep your community safer,” he said.
City Manager Margaret Silveira asked if there were any Tier 2 or 3 areas in the city limits. Hernandez said there were small slivers. Silveira responded that there are transmission lines to those areas going through the city, which means Lakeport could be impacted.
PG&E is working to improve services and notifications to medical baseline customers during power shutoffs, but doesn’t yet have a program in place to assist small businesses, Hernandez said.
He said the company’s engineers reconfigured the power grid after October’s power shutoff, which lessened the number of customers that would be impacted in a followup event.
What they don’t yet know, and what is a big concern, is what will happen if a fire starts during a public safety power shutoff, Hernandez said.
Sheriff Martin, who attended the meeting, urged community members to have a plan because he doesn’t think Lake County will make it through this fire season without a public safety power shutoff.
A countywide public safety power shutoff is of particular concern, as Martin said the county doesn’t have sheltering capabilities beyond the most fragile populations, and 48 hours’ notice isn’t enough time to come up with a plan.
Silveira told the council that city staff is working on information to send to city residents about preparation.
PG&E customers can get more information at www.pge.com/wildfiresafety or www.prepareforpowerdown.com .
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.
Lakeport City Council gets update on Public Safety Power Shutoff program, possible summer power outages
- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On