All Ukiah Unified schools are closed. The district out with a message they’ll reopen when power is restored, but nobody knows when that will happen. The district says as soon as they know when power will be up, they’ll let the public know. The same for Lake County schools and Community Colleges.
Officials in Mendocino County say they’re monitoring the two Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) events, one we’re in and supposedly getting our power back, the other on it’s tail, meaning, we actually don’t know when power will come back on. The County says they’re counting on PG&E to provide accurate, updated information to be shared with the public. The utility announced yesterday morning an all clear, so that just meant they would go out and inspect their equipment, then within 48 hours folks would get their power on. But they announced another power down for today into Thursday due to another wind event. They also announced significant damage to two major PG&E transmission lines that feed Mendocino County. Lines should be re-inspected tomorrow for safety, then re-energized.
For more information, please contact the Executive Office at 707-234-6030. For updated County information on the public safety power shut off, please visit www.mendocinocounty.org/psps or follow the County on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mendocinocounty and twitter https://twitter.com/countymendocino.
A new fire has broken out at the old Outrageous Waters water park in Clearlake. Firefighters got there early yesterday on Old Highway 53 finding the structures still there, that include the main building, were fully engulfed in flames. The old amusement park closed about a decade ago and the property was sold to a developer. Fire officials say they were concerned the flames could spread to nearby vegetation because of high winds. But they contained the fire before it could spread. Firefighters were there about 6 hours in all. The fire chief says there are many homeless people who stay in the area, but they didn’t find anyone there at the time. They’re investigating how the fire started.
Still no power across much of Northern California because of fire weather as Pacific Gas and Electric announces another to start this morning. Last night after 11 p.m. the energy company announced the next shutoff due to a Red Flag Warning from the National Weather Service. The warning was to go into effect at 8 a.m. and last until 4 p.m. tomorrow. Lake Co News reports the shutoff in Lake County was expected by around 7 a.m. based on previous shutdowns. But some people may still not have gotten their power back from Saturday’s event. This next one is to include 29 counties and nearly 600,000 customers. PG&E reported 57 percent of 970,000 customers they powered down, had their lights back on. Now it happens again. But Lake County officials reported there were no reports by residents of power restoration. There are three community resource centers for water, charging electronic devices and to get wifi during the outages in Lake County.
An impromptu poll on the Facebook page for Lake County News with hundreds of responses showed nobody had their power due to the public safety power shutoff. That means those PG&E customers could be without power at least five days as there’s another public safety power shutoff today and tomorrow. The current one started Saturday after another last week.
Even though there’s more containment on the Burris Fire in Mendocino County, fire officials are reportedly concerned the fire could jump its lines and move towards Potter Valley and with that a new evacuation warning. Cal Fire reports the fire’s still at 350 acres and 50 percent contained, but it’s still threatening about 40 structures. It started Sunday afternoon and folks were evacuated just after the fire broke out. No homes have been damaged and no injuries reported. There is a Red Flag Warning starting this morning, prompting the Sheriff’s office to announce that evacuation warning for the Potter Valley area.
The Governor’s announced a new website to help those dealing with the public safety power shutoffs and wildfires. The website response.ca.gov has resources including emergency response, recovery and resilience. That includes health services, shelters and housing, preparedness information and local and state information. The governor says the website will give Californians a unified portal with critical information during the state of emergency which will be continually updated. This came the day after the governor declared a statewide emergency because of the dangerous weather conditions.
The Kincade fire keeps growing by thousands of acres, but now it’s containment has also grown. The fire’s now charred over 74,320 acres and it’s 15% contained. The Lake County Sheriff’s Office has issued an evacuation warning for Middletown. It’s not mandatory, but officials say they’re fighting a spot fire north of Mt. St. Helena. The fire has destroyed 123 structures, including 57 homes. Twenty other structures were damaged, and still more than 90,000 structures are threatened. Weather conditions last night were calmer, but the terrain is difficult for firefighters to access because of narrow roads and steep terrain. Also a new Red Flag warning is going into effect this morning.
Residents of Sebastopol, Guerneville, Bodega Bay, Forestville and more west Sonoma County municipalities are now under an evacuation warning. So those who were already evacuated can return home at their own risk. All other evacuation orders are still in effect.
Some cell phone companies say about 25% of their cell sites are down in Sonoma County because of a lack of power due to PG&E’s planned blackout to prevent wildfires. In Lake County, 25% also offline. But the FCC’s daily cell site outage report does not include Mendocino County.
Congressmembers Jared Huffman and Mike Thompson telling wildfire evacuees to seek shelter and services and not to be afraid of immigration enforcement action. A statement put out on Friday by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, that there would be no immigration enforcement actions connected to any wildfire-related evacuations or shelters unless there’s a “serious public safety threat.”
Sonoma County firefighters are fighting the Kincade fire in the footprint of the Tubbs Fire. The fire moved quickly into Shiloh Estates and near Wikiup, Larkfield and the Mark West Springs corridor. These are all communities still rebuilding from the historic October 2017 Firestorm. Sonoma County’s main dispatch center used an “all-call” tone for the first time so any other fire company could come help make a stand against the fire as it swept into the area. More than 1,700 homes were lost two years ago. Fire officials planned this time around. The Press Democrat reports they studied weather models and fire behavior science and were able to save all but two homes.
Almost two million people could be impacted by this fourth public safety power shut-off. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. warned customers yesterday there will be new blackouts today. Just as they announced the all-clear from Saturdays power down. The utility company announced restoring power to 39% of those in the dark, or 375,000 of the 970,000 affected over the weekend. The Press Democrat reports in comparison to the 2017 October firestorm, and specifically the Tubbs Fire, that wind event lasted 6 to 8 hours. The wind event on Saturday lasted 30 hours.
Many Lake County residents are headed to PG&E Resource Centers to get powered up. Since power’s been off for much of Lake County since Saturday, about 150 people used the four PG&E Customer Resource Centers in Lake County Sunday.
The following resource centers were slotted to be open Monday, and should PG&E shut down power again Tuesday, they may remain open into midweek:
Konocti Vista Casino
2755 Mission Rancheria Rd
Lakeport, CA 95453
Clearlake Senior Community Center
3245 Bowers Ave
Clearlake, CA 95422
Upper Lake Unified School District (Middle School)
725 Old Lucerne Rd
Upper Lake, CA 95485
