PG&E turned the power off

[cw0909]

Power outages, to like 1mill people as a caution to wild fires in California
crazy stuff turned to the power off deliberately, it will take like 5 days to
restore. wow what a disruption to their life and economy ,all i can say is
be safe.
unbelievable a private co. can turn the switch off and leave you in......

https://abcnews.go.com/US/electrici...fornia-reduce-wildfire-risk/story?id=66156324

https://twitter.com/PGE4Me

 

[smokeythecat]

Yeah, I saw that. California is turning into a third world country.

 

[JohnWhite]

I am a native Californian who believes that we brought it upon ourselves...PG&E was providing a service to us and by an act of God they ended up filing bankruptcy due to lawsuits brought against them...Now whenever the winds pick up, an act of God, they fear another fire might break out and they could get sued again...

What a shame...PG&E was one of the richest power companies around...Now look at what they have to do to protect themselves from liabilities...And now people are crying because they are in the dark...I wonder how many of them were yelling...Sue the bas*****!!! lol...

I call it poetic justice...

Ed T

 

[BillA]

JW you are exactly precisely correct, peeps want to be served and then sue

4th gen, but I left never to return
Calif is now like Sicily, very beautiful but needs to be submerged for 3 days to clean it up/out
repopulate, but from where ?

 

[Force_of_Iron]

When I was growing up I never dreamed there could be such thing as rolling blackouts in America. That happened in other parts of the world.

 

[BillA]

not a rolling blackout
turned off, just that, no capacity problem

 

[Escape]

Yeah, I saw that. California is turning into a third world country.

It's not just California. How is the infrastructure in your neck of the woods?. You have cities where its not safe to drink the water, bridges on the verge of collapsing and roadways that will shake the screws out of your car. I was in China this year. I rode a train that ran 250 miles an hour. It's not just California, It's the whole country.

 

[Megalodon]

It's not just California. How is the infrastructure in your neck of the woods?. You have cities where its not safe to drink the water, bridges on the verge of collapsing and roadways that will shake the screws out of your car. I was in China this year. I rode a train that ran 250 miles an hour. It's not just California, It's the whole country.

I drove to MA this spring and both the federal highway, route 95, and local roads, looked like they had been used for bombing practice. I chose to drive a less fuel efficient truck because I hoped the heavier suspension and steering components could better withstand the roads that one might expect in Beirut. To avoid air heavily contaminated with carcinogens pumped into our old neighborhood from a new fracked gas refinery and liquefaction facility, we moved to where we might be able to breathe the air. But, good to know that India and Japan will receive LNG fuel relatively clean for them to burn and never have to see the conditions where it was processed.

 

[BillA]

careful guys, don't want the thread wacked (like I just caused)

I guess PG&E's problems are related to aging lines, but the conditions are difficult
and liability is going to be sought in any case, over and over
I would agree as a manager - no liability if power is off as a protective measure

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

They were held liable for billions of dollars last time the lines caused a fire. So you can't blame them for shutting off the power in similar conditions if that was the case.

Can't have it both ways.

 

[SeabeeRon]

They were held liable for billions of dollars last time the lines caused a fire. So you can't blame them for shutting off the power in similar conditions if that was the case.

Can't have it both ways.

Well said Charlie!

Granted, some of the wild fires over the last few years were caused by faulty equipment on PG&E's side. Most were due to poor forest management around the overhead lines. There is much blame to go around for that including Federal/State governments, private property owners as well as PG&E itself!

When I started with PG&E in 1968 the company upper management was made up of those who "came up through the ranks", lineman and engineers. By the time I retired 40 years later it was run by Bean Counters and Lawyers and much needed maintenance was "deferred" or just cancelled!!

Believe me, the rank and file employees are not happy about this as they are taking the heat from the public! There have been employees shot at and offices vandalized during this most recent event!

 

[PullTabSlayer]

They will be sued for cutting it off im sure.

 

[sprailroad]

Just as SeabeeRon's PG&E, same held true for the railroad. Many of those "in charge", seldom actually ever worked on the tracks much at all, and those that made all the rules? The most time they ever spent on a railroad track, was on a rare occasion there would be a day long field trip, where they would get to see and watch "the workers work". Somewhat amusing actually. The fires in Calif. that killed so many and destroyed so much was such a sad affair. Of course when someone determined it was caused by a "Power line" of PG&E's, well, let the lawyers begin, and I SOMEHOW feel it was the state itself who received most of the settlement. The people directly affected? perhaps not so much. Can't sue mother nature for earthquakes, floods, volcanos, heat and heavy winds, if there were a way, it would already have been done. Electric service in Calif.? perhaps demand is beginning to outstrip supply.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

There is ONE group of people who's shoulders bear full responsibility for the catastrophic wildfires last year.
The extreme environmental groups have made it impossible to perform forest management profitably, to clear vegetation below and around power lines...to responsibly use herbacides to maintain fire breaks, ect.

We are more worried about earth getting into the water (which flows across the earth) than we are about homes burning down. It all comes back to the fear of a lawsuit for doing the right thing.

 

[digger27]

When I lived in Florida one Christmas morning it got unusually cold, down to the lower 20's, and because so many were home that day using electric heat and so many turning on electric ovens to cook their turkeys the power company started rolling blackouts because they were afraid their system would crash.
If you lived on the same grid as a hospital you were lucky because they left those areas on.
It was only a few hours but it was still inconvenient...nowhere near the hassle if you lose powers for days.

I feel sorry for those that have meds like very expensive insulin that must be refrigerated or oxygen generators and scooters that need to be charged.

 

[SeabeeRon]

When I lived in Florida one Christmas morning it got unusually cold, down to the lower 20's, and because so many were home that day using electric heat and so many turning on electric ovens to cook their turkeys the power company started rolling blackouts because they were afraid their system would crash.
If you lived on the same grid as a hospital you were lucky because they left those areas on.
It was only a few hours but it was still inconvenient...nowhere near the hassle if you lose powers for days.

I feel sorry for those that have meds like very expensive insulin that must be refrigerated or oxygen generators and scooters that need to be charged.

Thanks digger!

These are a bit different than the "rolling blackouts" we experience during high load/low capacity outages.

This is more akin to storm conditions (even though the wind hasn't hit as expected) where every foot of overhead line has to patrolled and cleared before it can be re-energized. Some of it can be done electronically, but much of has to be done the old fashion way...men in trucks or foot patrol!

 

[cw0909]

PG&E says their equipment prob caused the last fire/s
filed bankruptcy, but still operating and supplying power
you would think bankruptcy would put you out of biz
our power co. here check the wires and poles with helicopters
and bucket trucks, about every 2 yr or so @ least in my 60k
pop town

https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/article226921019.html

 

[cw0909]

some info from PG&E
outage map
http://critweb-outage.pgealerts.com/
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=cb0658a472664835aa4defffc6d6868b

 

[DeepseekerADS]

I worked for PG&E as a contract engineer - equipment systems design and field engineering. Phone calls to my wife & son back in Michigan crying for me to go back "home". Of course suddenly popped up a hot job back there, and I resigned my position - though I absolutely wanted to stay - loved it there but they wouldn't come.

Out of all the contracts I worked (57), PG&E (Diablo Canyon) treated me the best.

 

[Duckshot]

The solution to wildfire started by wind and power lines is to force everybody cook their food with propane, kerosene, wood or charcoal using an open flame.

Well that'll never work!