PG&E Planned Outages Likely In Several Mother Lode Counties

Planned PSPS Map

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Sonora, CA — PG&E is providing more details about its planned power outages that could begin sometime Thursday due to potential high winds forecasted to enter the region.

PG&E reports that the customers who could be impacted are all being notified ahead of the potential event. There are 3,823 in Tuolumne County. As reported earlier, they are primarily around Yankee Hill, Cedar Ridge, Mi Wuk Village, Sierra Village, Long Barn, and up Highway 108 to Strawberry. In addition, there are 2,346 customers in Calaveras County, 640 in Mariposa County, 564 in Alpine County, and 55 in Amador County. The Calaveras customers are above Arnold along the Highway 4 corridor and stretching up to Bear Valley in Alpine County.

There are plans in place to open Community Resource Centers at the Mother Lode Fairgrounds in Sonora, the Murphys Fire Department at 58 Jones Street, and the Bear Valley Transportation Center at 132 Bear Valley Road. The hours for all three will tentatively be Thursday from 8 am – 10 pm. There will be snacks, device charging, and other amenities.

PG&E is detailing why it calls for a PSPS event below:

PG&E initiates PSPS when the fire-weather forecast is severe enough that people’s safety, lives, homes and businesses may be in danger of wildfires. Our overarching goal is to stop catastrophic wildfires by proactively turning off power in targeted areas when extreme weather threatens our electric grid. We recognize that PSPS outages create hardships for our customers and communities. Our sole focus is to keep our customers safe. 

As each weather situation is unique, we carefully review a combination of factors when deciding if power must be turned off. These factors include but are not limited to:  

·         Low humidity levels, generally 30% and below. 

·         A forecast of high winds, particularly sustained winds above 19 miles per hour and wind gusts above 30-40 miles per hour. 

·         Condition of dry material on the ground and low moisture content of vegetation. 

·         A Red Flag Warning declared by the National Weather Service. 

·         Real-time ground observations from our crews working across the service area. 

Our decision-making process also accounts for the presence of trees tall enough to strike powerlines.