It's commiefornia so I'm not too sure anyone on here really gives a schitt.

Link?

PG&E Corp. PCG 1.10% has begun to shut off power to hundreds of thousands of people in California as it seeks to prevent its electric lines from sparking more deadly wildfires, in what is believed to be the largest such pre-emptive blackout ever.

The outages are poised to hit areas across the northern and central parts of the state, including the famous wine country region, the rural Sierra Nevada foothills and portions of Oakland and San Jose. The utility is implementing the shut-offs as strong, dry winds are expected to hit the region, increasing the risk that its equipment could start fires.

PG&E said early Wednesday the shut-offs will occur in three phases, the first of which began affecting about 513,000 customers from around midnight local time. These outages will be spread across 22 counties, the utility said, including Napa, Mendocino and Sonoma in the wine country region.

The second phase is set to occur around noon Wednesday, turning off service to approximately 234,000 customers in seven additional counties, PG&E said. These include Alameda, home to Oakland and Berkeley, and Santa Clara, whose largest city is San Jose.

A third phase is being considered for the southernmost portions of PG&E’s service area, affecting approximately 42,000 customers, the company said. Specific locations were still to be determined, it said.

Link?

The bad thing is the power company is calling it a planned outage. That means they take no responsibility for damage done. Better not own an ice cream shop.

The reason this is happening is state law makes the utility liable for fire damage even if not proven negligent. Which is why PGE is bankrupt in the first place. Another case of CA showing how they're smarter than everyone else. If utility doesn't turn off the power they are literally betting the company, and they already lost that bet once.

Ok, if it's for fire safety, someone more informed than myself
answer this. When they have to respond to structure fires, will there
be water in the hydrants. I suppose the answer is, depends.

If my neighbors car catches on fire in the garage, there is no water
available, it's windy as hell, and the whole neighborhood goes up,
fire takes off crosscountry......

Aren't they going to be responsible for everything after the initial event?

Yeah, but they got permission to pass all those costs on to the rate payer.
.

Ok, if it's for fire safety, someone more informed than myself
answer this. When they have to respond to structure fires, will there
be water in the hydrants. I suppose the answer is, depends.

If my neighbors car catches on fire in the garage, there is no water
available, it's windy as hell, and the whole neighborhood goes up,
fire takes off crosscountry......

Aren't they going to be responsible for everything after the initial event?

Ok, if it's for fire safety,

Ok, if it's for fire safety, someone more informed than myself
answer this. When they have to respond to structure fires, will there
be water in the hydrants. I suppose the answer is, depends.

If my neighbors car catches on fire in the garage, there is no water
available, it's windy as hell, and the whole neighborhood goes up,
fire takes off crosscountry......

Aren't they going to be responsible for everything after the initial event?


Someone mentioned generators, I no several folk who need constant
power for medical devices. Others (myself with c-pap) who need power
at least a few hours a day. If a fire starts because you shut my power off,
And a medically necessary generator started it, aren't you liable?

Equipment failure, accident, storm, probably not.
But here , you just decided to throw the switch.


This WILL test the civil laws.

The water districts have their own generators and will keep water flowing or so they say. Supposed to have our power turned off by noon today because of the high winds/fire hazard. They say the power will be off for 2 days but it will take another 3 days for them to check their system for any issues before it's actually turned back on if that makes sense, bunch of flugging wingnuts.

How the homeless folks gonna know where to poop?

The winds ain't gonna do schitt....sustained winds forecast at 15-30 MPH gmafb....

This has NOTHING to do with fire danger. It's ALL about the tort law industry. I have friends who lost their home in the Camp Fire, at Paradise and they were inundated by illegal calls from lawyers representatives hustling business to sue PG&E after the fire. The ongoing legal claims far exceed actual property damage..you know the song, pain and suffering, emotional distress etc.
Planned power outages, are PG&E's response, hoping public outrage over the planned outages result in a change in CA law protecting utilities from tort jihad in the future. Kabuki theater...in the billions of dollars. Isn't it always about the money in the end?

Wonder if it's all an exercise and test for Smart Meters on mass scale?

This has NOTHING to do with fire danger. It's ALL about the tort law industry. I have friends who lost their home in the Camp Fire, at Paradise and they were inundated by illegal calls from lawyers representatives hustling business to sue PG&E after the fire. The ongoing legal claims far exceed actual property damage..you know the song, pain and suffering, emotional distress etc.
Planned power outages, are PG&E's response, hoping public outrage over the planned outages result in a change in CA law protecting utilities from tort jihad in the future. Kabuki theater...in the billions of dollars. Isn't it always about the money in the end?

So how are the green electric cars supposed to recharge? Maybe they have a stash of AA and AAA batteries from the remote.

I don't believe that is the case, they may have been able to pass some costs through but they still took a brutal beating. I'll find a link.

Also, this a.m.it was said gasoline in Cali was over $5.00gal., so just stay home in the dark and celebrate.

Liberals can and do screw up everything they touch! 50 years ago Calif. was the place to be. Opportunity was unlimited, great mountains , coast , desert etc.... one of the largest economies in the world.
Crazy wealth......

Now it is transitioning into third world before our eyes..... great job Dems

35-55 mph

^^^^^^ This.

It is interesting to consider the environmental impact of thousands of generators being fired up and running. Generator sales must be going through the roof in this part of California. We are certainly seeing that in this part of Oregon as our local utility (Pacific Power) has said that they will also cut off power if our area faces a red flag event. Fortunately, our rainfall in September (5") has been much higher than average.

It's commiefornia so I'm not too sure anyone on here really gives a schitt.

I'm betting that improper use of generators will cause a lot more fires than the power companies.

Just seems odd to me. Other than an occasional blown transformer or tree taking down a line, I've never heard of power lines that were just sitting there causing a fire. Now lightning, car wrecks, railroads, or maybe a Boy Scout, yes. Is this something a politician thought up or what?

One would think high income folks down in those zones would carry some insurance.

As to the most significant impact, business essentially shuts down. One can't purchase anything or buy fuel. I suppose every office worker will spend the day sitting in the dark looking at their blank computer screen. The expense of a shutdown like that should easily cover the cost of a potential fire.