By Jim Carlton
LAKE BERRYESSA, Calif -- PG&E Corp. cut power to customers
around this Napa County resort area Saturday, the first of what the
utility has said will likely be numerous pre-emptive shutdowns this
year to help prevent deadly wildfires.
The blackout began at 6 a.m. to 1,600 businesses and homes in
parts of Napa, Yolo and Solano counties, located about 75 miles
northeast of San Francisco. It came after the National Weather
Service issued its first red-flag warning, which signals high fire
danger, of 2019 for a Northern California region that has until now
been mostly cool and moist.
On Saturday afternoon, PG&E said it would shut off power to
an additional 26,900 customers in the foothills of California's
Sierra Nevada, including Paradise, which was destroyed by the Camp
Fire last year.
The San Francisco-based company earlier this year announced its
plan to become the first utility in the U.S. to intentionally shut
off power to help prevent its transmission equipment from igniting
a fire. PG&E owns and operates thousands of miles of power
lines that snake through tinder-dry forests and brush.
The action came after PG&E said its equipment likely sparked
the 153,000-acre Camp Fire last November, killing 85 people.
California officials have since verified PG&E's culpability.
State records show PG&E equipment has caused hundreds of other
fires in recent years. The company filed for bankruptcy protection
in January to shield itself from wildfire-related liability.
PG&E warned Friday afternoon that this area, as well as
other nearby towns including Paradise, might face blackouts this
weekend. Nonetheless, Saturday's shutdown came as an unpleasant
wake-up call to the boat shops and other businesses that cater to
crowds visiting Lake Berryessa, a 16-mile-long reservoir perched in
a rugged mountain overlooking the Napa Valley.
"This is better than having a fire, but it definitely makes it
difficult, " Josh Grimstad, manager of Lake Berryessa Boat &
Jet Ski Rentals, said in a dark office with no working phones and a
long line of customers.
An office assistant retrieved reservations from a desktop
computer powered by a portable generator too weak to provide energy
to much else. Most customers took the inconvenience in stride,
although 45-year-old Gabriel Garcia grumbled that PG&E was
doing too little too late.
"Now they're taking all these precautions," said Mr. Garcia, a
carpenter from Napa, Calif., who was renting a WaveRunner boat to
ride with his 8-year-old son. "They didn't before all of these
fires."
Other people, though, praised PG&E for taking precautionary
steps.
"If we can get adjusted to these outages, it's worth it, because
these fires just kill business," said Mike Medina, co-owner of the
55-site Spanish Flat Campground along Lake Berryessa.
Mr. Medina and two partners struggled Saturday to load about a
dozen empty gasoline containers onto a pickup truck so they could
get fuel to keep a generator running. The campground needs power in
part to keep 200 bags of ice worth about $1,000 from melting, they
said.
PG&E previously warned that in such shutdowns, electricity
wouldn't be restored for at least 24 hours and possibly days longer
until crews can inspect power lines for any damage.
"We understand people without power is an inconvenience, but we
are doing this for the safety of the communities," said Paul
Moreno, a spokesman for the utility.
The Turtle Rock Bar & Cafe -- a popular biker haunt with
dollar bills festooning to the ceiling -- sat just outside the
blackout area. Owner Pete Leung said he invested in a $20,000
generator last December, believing that power outages would become
more commonplace in the region. Two years ago, the business barely
escaped the flames of a wildfire, which left a trail of dead trees
on all sides.
"They're going to cut your power now, that's the new norm," Mr.
Leung said.
His home atop a nearby ridge did have its electricity turned off
on Saturday, prompting Mr. Leung to do what more residents are
doing: fire up an emergency generator. But with the 8,000-watt
generator consuming five gallons of gasoline every eight hours, he
said it could get expensive if the shutdown lasts too long.
"They don't tell you when they're going to turn the power back
on, and that's the hard part," said Mr. Leung, 42, as he tossed a
ball in his backyard for his Labrador retriever, Sammy.
Write to Jim Carlton at jim.carlton@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 08, 2019 22:35 ET (02:35 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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