In the largest power down for PG&E ever, there was still a huge swath of land in the dark in Lake County late yesterday afternoon, even though power crews were starting to re-inspect lines. Hundreds of thousands still without power yesterday afternoon but PG&E did power back on about 126,000 in Humboldt and other counties. The utility company put out a statement yesterday saying they would conduct safety inspections, repairs and power restoration after a weather ‘all clear’ was given. They also warned it could take a minute because there were some remote areas to inspect and others in treacherous terrain. They had more than 6,300 ground crews and 45 helicopters inspecting. They would repair if any damage was found, but did have reports of vegetation created damage. State Senator Mike McGuire tweeted yesterday that PG&E was considering power restoration in Lake, Mendocino, Marin and Sonoma yesterday afternoon. But we have no reports early this morning that that’s the case. Lakeport officials said they got word that power restoration had begun and it could take several hours or more.
During PG&E’s planned Public Safety Power Shutoff winds of up to 77 miles per hour were recorded on Mt. St. Helena in Sonoma County. Another 75 mile per hour gust was caught in Contra Costa County on Mt. Diablo. They said there were preliminary reports of vegetation-related damage to equipment in those areas. In Lake County winds were recorded much lower, but at higher elevations, measurements of 25-50 miles an hour at a weather station near Knoxville Creek, east of Clear Lake. The utility company reported dangerous weather conditions yesterday afternoon and possibly lasting thru midday today.
A fire’s ignited near Yosemite and that’s closed one of the two main highways into the National Park from the Bay Area. Smoke from the Briceburg fire was blanketing the park. The fire started last Sunday afternoon in steep canyons of Merced River, which about 12 miles east of the park’s Arch Rock Entrance on Highway 140. The fire’s blackened 4,900 acres and is reported at 28% containment. It had doubled in size over 2 days. The park is open though and apparently it’s still pretty busy with tourists. A spokesperson says visitors are coming in but there are smoke impacts in some areas with very unhealthy air reported. The official website for the park says smoke could pose a risk for older adults, children, and those with pre-existing medical conditions.
Those impacted by Pacific Gas & Electric’s planned power shut-offs won’t be able to seek reimbursement for losses thru their Safety Net program, but there’s still other possibilities. That program usually compensates customers for weather-related outages if they’re without power more than 48 hours from a severe event, including weather, but the company says the public safety shut-offs don’t qualify. A spokesperson says they’re not paying for food spoiling. Back in 2018 they did take claims for food getting spoiled though. But customers who claim a hardship because of the loss of power can still try to submit a claim, with receipts and detailed repair estimates and invoices.
San Francisco International Airport is putting up a giant sea wall around the whole airport. The nearly $600 million dollar project will include driving steel pilings into the ground and putting up steel sheets with interlocking edges along with concrete walls in some areas too. A spokesperson for the airport says they’ve been considering the idea for years. The runways are only about 10 feet above sea level. There are smaller sea walks there, but they were erected in the 1980s and only offer about 3 feet of protection from flooding.
A man accused of killing another man in Alderpoint is going to prison. Zachary Harrison found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Robert Holtsclaw. He faces life in prison after living on the run for almost a year. He was also convicted for personally and intentionally discharging a firearm after two days of jury deliberation. There were eyewitnesses to the crime and prosecutors used that to get the conviction. The case made it onto TV, streaming on Netflix under the title “Murder Mountain” related to Humboldt County’s black market marijuana industry. The jury had to deliberate in the jury assembly room at the Humboldt County courthouse not a courtroom, because of the PG&E public safety power shutoffs.
A man in Redwood Valley has been shot by deputies after reports of a drunk person with a backpack full of booze pulls a gun at them. Sheriff Tom Allman says the man pulled a gun on the deputies…
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Sheriff Allman says they first got a call to a drunk person and while searching for him they saw a van with a man in it who they were told was a missing person. Then a fight ensued and the deputies tazered him and he had no response to that, then pulled his gun on deputies. The three deputies are all on administrative leave. One had a minor injury and refused medical treatment.
PG&E crews have begun restoring power to hundreds of thousands across Northern Calif as the company’s CEO says they could have done better with communication. CEO Bill Johnson speaking to reporters yesterday about their website crashing, their maps being inconsistent with actual power downs and how their call centers were so overwhelmed, that at times, they have out insufficient resources for those trying to live without essential service in parts of 34 counties. Johnson went on to say they were not adequately prepared for this sort of operational event. The statement came after Governor Newsom publicly called the utility out for creating the problem in the first place by neglecting their own system and putting profits ahead of infrastructure maintenance and modernization.
A Redwood Valley man who was reported to be drunk with booze filling a backpack busted by police and tries shooting them. That’s the word from the Sheriff who says the man was reported as missing and got into an altercation with deputies. They deployed a taser on him, he didn’t respond and shot at them with a .50 caliber handgun. Nobody was hit and all three deputies returned fire…
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Sheriff Allman says the van the man was found in had lots of a white powdery substance in it. He says the man was hit twice by deputies and that he heard the man was flown out of county with at least one bullet still in him, but he couldn’t confirm that. The three deputies are all on administrative leave. One had a minor injury and refused medical treatment.
The power is coming back on in Lake County about 2 days after it first was turned off. Lake Co News reports Pacific Gas and Electric started restoring power late yesterday. There were more than 37,400 Lake County customers without power and nearly ¾’s of a million across the state. The utility company gave the all clear for both Lake and Mendocino Counties late yesterday. Crews had to examine 25,000 miles of line that was de-energized first though. They can only turn the power on during daylight hours after safety patrols and inspections finished up last night. There were nearly a dozen reports of wind related damage to their equipment in shutoff-impacted areas.
The Lake County Tourism Improvement District has a new logo. The District and partner Cubic Creative released the logo they’ll use for their marketing campaign for 2020 to people gathered at the Robinson Rancheria Resort and Casino earlier this week. They’re attempting to bring more overnight tourism to Lake County with the campaign. The new logo hand drawn text next to a picture of a mountain and the sun or the moon depending on how you see it.
The PG&E CEO says they messed up big time in the historical public safety power shutoff. CEO Bill Johnson speaking out last night about their effort saying they chose between hardship and safety but apologized for the hardship it caused. He apologized for website issues, inconsistent maps and overloaded call centers. It comes after the Governor displayed anger at the utility company, saying had PG&E taken better care of its infrastructure, perhaps they could have averted this event and avoided massive wildfires that destroyed thousands of homes and killed several people, calling them out for greed and neglect.
