Wildfires

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Sat Sep 28, 2019 11:22 pm

A Missouri man has been arrested and charged him with arson in connection with Reservoir Fire that burned approximately 128 acres, according to California fire officials.

The suspect, Freddie Owen Graham, 68, had flown in from Missouri and rented a car, which he used to drive along Calaveras Road in Santa Clara County to start the fires, according to an investigation report by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire.
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Cal Fire law enforcement officers arrested Graham on September 23 and charged him with 13 counts of arson to forest land and two counts of arson during a state of emergency.
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According to the report, when investigators spoke to Graham, he admitted to lighting the fires along Calaveras Road. Graham told officials that he used a lighter to set fire to a paper bag and napkins from a fast food restaurant before throwing it out the car window, according to the report.

Graham told investigators that he started the fires because he planned to drive the road with his late wife before she passed away and it made him emotional, according to the Cal Fire report.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Oct 09, 2019 12:01 pm

CNBC

Millions of people in California woke up in the dark Wednesday after Pacific Gas & Electric started shutting off power to prevent what the utility called an unprecedented wildfire danger.

PG&E said it cut power to more than 500,000 customers in Northern California and that it plans to gradually turn off electricity to nearly 800,000 customers to prevent its equipment from starting wildfires during hot, windy weather.

A second group of about 234,000 customers will lose power starting at noon, the utility said.

The utility plans to shut off power in parts of 34 northern, central and coastal California counties to reduce the chance of fierce winds knocking down or toppling trees into power lines during a siege of hot, dry, gusty weather.
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The winds will be the strongest and most widespread the region has seen in two years, and given the scope of the danger, there was no other choice but to stage the largest preventive blackout in state history, PG&E said.

“This is a last resort,” said Sumeet Singh, head of the utility’s Community Wildfire Safety Program.
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It could take as many as five days to restore power after the danger has passed because every inch of power line must be checked to make sure it isn’t damaged or in danger of sparking a blaze, PG&E said.
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To the south, Southern California Edison said more than 106,000 of its customers in parts of eight counties could face power cuts as early as Thursday as Santa Ana winds loomed.

The cutbacks followed a plan instituted after deadly wildfires — some blamed on downed PG&E transmission lines — destroyed dozens of lives and thousands of homes in recent years and forced the utility into bankruptcy over an estimated $30 billion in potential damages from lawsuits.

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Wed Oct 09, 2019 12:55 pm

Yep and it could come to where I live as well, as I'm in a fire area. My house probably won't burn down as I've done a lot to keep brush away, my back yard is mostly brick chips with some artificial grass. But the power companies don't want to be blamed for any more wildfires so here we are.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Wed Oct 09, 2019 1:06 pm

Was there any prior indication this was a potential way for them to deal with the issue? I understand why they're doing it (liability), but I'm going to guess the overall impact will be huge for people that weren't planning on it.

naednek · Post by **naednek** » Wed Oct 09, 2019 1:21 pm

Lorini wrote: Wed Oct 09, 2019 12:55 pm Yep and it could come to where I live as well, as I'm in a fire area. My house probably won't burn down as I've done a lot to keep brush away, my back yard is mostly brick chips with some artificial grass. But the power companies don't want to be blamed for any more wildfires so here we are.

It's a stupid system. They are failing to maintain their equipment and surroundings, so their solution is to just shot down. Thankfully we don't have PG&E for electricity.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Oct 09, 2019 1:29 pm

naednek wrote: Wed Oct 09, 2019 1:21 pm Thankfully we don't have PG&E for electricity.

But does your power ever go through the PG&E system?

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Wed Oct 09, 2019 1:35 pm

Isgrimnur wrote: Wed Oct 09, 2019 1:29 pm
naednek wrote: Wed Oct 09, 2019 1:21 pm Thankfully we don't have PG&E for electricity.
But does your power ever go through the PG&E system?

I think what you mean is are you sure your power can be fully routed around the PG&E system. Because it could go through under normal circumstances but still have a way around under these circumstances.

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Wed Oct 09, 2019 1:55 pm

naednek wrote: Wed Oct 09, 2019 1:21 pm
Lorini wrote: Wed Oct 09, 2019 12:55 pm Yep and it could come to where I live as well, as I'm in a fire area. My house probably won't burn down as I've done a lot to keep brush away, my back yard is mostly brick chips with some artificial grass. But the power companies don't want to be blamed for any more wildfires so here we are.
It's a stupid system. They are failing to maintain their equipment and surroundings, so their solution is to just shot down. Thankfully we don't have PG&E for electricity.

We don't either, we have SCE and many communities in the LA area have their own power companies such as the DWP in Los Angeles itself. So I don't know how this is going to play out but I think the point is really that the power companies want to be blameless when they cause fires. If the state is going to blame them then they are going to turn off everyone's electricity.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Oct 09, 2019 3:02 pm

Alefroth · Post by **Alefroth** » Wed Oct 09, 2019 3:34 pm

Smoove_B wrote: Wed Oct 09, 2019 1:06 pm Was there any prior indication this was a potential way for them to deal with the issue? I understand why they're doing it (liability), but I'm going to guess the overall impact will be huge for people that weren't planning on it.

It's been near the top of my Google News feed since at least Monday

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Wed Oct 09, 2019 3:45 pm

naednek wrote: Wed Oct 09, 2019 1:21 pm
Lorini wrote: Wed Oct 09, 2019 12:55 pm Yep and it could come to where I live as well, as I'm in a fire area. My house probably won't burn down as I've done a lot to keep brush away, my back yard is mostly brick chips with some artificial grass. But the power companies don't want to be blamed for any more wildfires so here we are.
It's a stupid system. They are failing to maintain their equipment and surroundings, so their solution is to just shot down. Thankfully we don't have PG&E for electricity.

Your electricity provider may depend on PG&E's infrastructure for delivery however (I don't know the map of their infrastructure for that).

The system shutdowns however, aren't driven by PG&E so much as their insurance providers - especially with the Risk increasing exponentially due to climate change.

The ultimate fix is that they *need* to get all Power lines buried, but (in part) because they have a limited utility public monopoly on the infrastructure in their service areas, they haven't had the money to do that kind of hideously expensive massive project, and maintenance of current infrastructure doesn't cover that kind of change, and there may not be the kind of money necessary to do that.

naednek · Post by **naednek** » Wed Oct 09, 2019 4:01 pm

Isgrimnur wrote: Wed Oct 09, 2019 1:29 pm
naednek wrote: Wed Oct 09, 2019 1:21 pm Thankfully we don't have PG&E for electricity.
But does your power ever go through the PG&E system?

No, our power goes through SMUD who has their own power generating plants, solar, hydro and wind farms and infrastructure that delivers it to us. It provides power to Sacramento and the surrounding suburbs. 10 miles up it's PG&E.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Oct 09, 2019 4:04 pm

naednek wrote: Wed Oct 09, 2019 4:01 pm SMUD

One would think they could have come up with a better acronym.

naednek · Post by **naednek** » Wed Oct 09, 2019 4:09 pm

Isgrimnur wrote: Wed Oct 09, 2019 4:04 pm
naednek wrote: Wed Oct 09, 2019 4:01 pm SMUD
One would think they could have come up with a better acronym.

Sacramento Municipal Utility District. Seems appropriate to me.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon Oct 14, 2019 9:36 pm

Huge success!

The utility behind last week’s intentional power shut-off across Northern and Central California has restored electricity to all of its customers as shifts in weather have lessened the likelihood its equipment will spark wildfires.
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It was the largest planned power outage of its kind in state history. It will not be the last.

While the utility says the outage might have prevented wildfires in several northern counties — and the company showed photos of downed power lines as evidence — it certainly caused millions of dollars in damage to closed businesses, generator-less households and others in places where the weather never lived up to the predicted conditions.
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Southern California Edison, the utility that serves northern Los Angeles County, shut down power to 13,000 customers before the fires began amid stiffening winds. But it did not do so in Sylmar, a town in the county’s far north that has burned before, where residents reported seeing flames near an Edison electricity transmission tower along Saddle Ridge Road.
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State laws hold utilities “strictly liable” when their equipment starts fires and causes damage, even if there is no negligence. Utility companies have spent heavily in the past two years lobbying state lawmakers unsuccessfully to loosen the liability rule, among the nation’s strictest.

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Tue Oct 15, 2019 9:11 am

Don't know what's going to happen because the power companies will be sued out of existence (PG&E is already in bankruptcy) and then we'll have no power at all. At the same time, these outages are terrible.

The state should fine the power companies for mis using the money they were given to fix these issues however, even though I'm not sure if the state can fine a company that's already in bankruptcy. Perhaps these companies should just cease to exist, and have the whole thing run by the state. That'd be a big taxpayer burden though, so whatever happens I hope they are at least thoughtful about it.

Fortunately for me, I live in an area with underground power lines, thus I'll never lose power in these situations.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Oct 15, 2019 9:28 am

Lorini wrote: Tue Oct 15, 2019 9:11 am Fortunately for me, I live in an area with underground power lines, thus I'll never lose power in these situations.

Right up until an earthquake or mudslide takes the lines out.

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Tue Oct 15, 2019 10:33 am

Isgrimnur wrote: Tue Oct 15, 2019 9:28 am
Lorini wrote: Tue Oct 15, 2019 9:11 am Fortunately for me, I live in an area with underground power lines, thus I'll never lose power in these situations.
Right up until an earthquake or mudslide takes the lines out.

I’m not at all saying that I’ll always have power. I’m saying SCE won’t turn my power off in the event of high winds. Thought that was implied but I guess not.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Oct 15, 2019 11:05 am

I got it, I've just spent too much time emulating hepcat's post style.

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Tue Oct 15, 2019 12:40 pm

Isgrimnur wrote: Tue Oct 15, 2019 11:05 am I got it, I've just spent too much time emulating hepcat's post style.

Which honestly I don't care for, but everyone is entitled to say what they have to say.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Tue Oct 15, 2019 1:09 pm

How is it the PG&E is close to or at bankruptcy all the time?

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Tue Oct 15, 2019 5:36 pm

dbt1949 wrote: Tue Oct 15, 2019 1:09 pm How is it the PG&E is close to or at bankruptcy all the time?

Their equipment causes wildfires so they get sued. After paying huge executive salaries they run out of money

Spoiler:

to pay the lawsuits so they have to declare bankruptcy so they only have to pay pennies on the dollar to the plaintiffs.

Yes, it’s a mess.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Sun Oct 20, 2019 1:12 am

LA Times

California residents face up to 10 years of widespread, precautionary forced power shut-offs until Pacific Gas & Electric Corp., the bankrupt utility giant, will be able to prevent its power transmission lines from sparking fires, the company’s top official said.

The sobering projection came from company Chief Executive William D. Johnson at an emergency meeting Friday of the California Public Utilities Commission in San Francisco.

While the need for widespread shutdowns should lessen every year, Johnson told commissioners, “I think this is probably a 10-year timeline to get to a point where it’s really ratcheted down significantly.”
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“What we saw play out by PG&E last week cannot be repeated,” commission President Marybel Batjer said Friday, according to prepared remarks. “The loss of power endangers lives ... and imposes additional burdens on our most vulnerable populations.”

Batjer noted also that “PG&E was not fully prepared to manage such a large-scale power shut-off.”

During the planned outage, the utility’s website crashed and customers tried futilely to reach the utility by any means for information.
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At the meeting and in a Friday letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom, Johnson acknowledged the inadequacies of PG&E’s actions, while defending the purpose behind them. He also emphasized that the decision to turn power off was made in consultation with the National Weather Service and the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Sun Oct 20, 2019 9:49 am

PG&E weren't AT ALL prepared for what they did. More talk of state takeover is commencing.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon Oct 21, 2019 12:52 pm

Wired: UC Berkeley Was About to Launch a Satellite. Then PG&E Said It Was Cutting Power

The Golden State at large, and UC Berkeley in particular, learned brutal lessons last week. For one, climate change, which has made wildfires in the west more ferocious, is already taking lives. And in its management (or mismanagement), California’s economy is taking a bludgeoning as electricity becomes less certain.

For academics too, the consequences can be maddening: One Berkeley scientist had to load his freezers onto a moving truck and send them across the San Francisco Bay to the University of California, San Francisco, which hadn’t lost power.

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Mon Oct 21, 2019 3:51 pm

I'm very sure that was not the only incidence of something big planned and lost (maybe permanently because of the lack of electricity. It's just stupid.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Mon Oct 21, 2019 4:40 pm

The very best part is the most common localized backup source of power is diesel generators. We are *killing it* on the environment.... or just killing the environment. Go humans!

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Mon Oct 21, 2019 6:35 pm

coopasonic wrote: Mon Oct 21, 2019 4:40 pm The very best part is the most common localized backup source of power is diesel generators. We are *killing it* on the environment.... or just killing the environment. Go humans!

I doubt that many people in the bay area have diesel generators or at least they didn't. At the same time as has been mentioned above, very important work is being done that needs the electrical grid. I know that the big tech companies have their own grid so they don't care but most companies are (probably soon to be were) depending on PG&E.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Oct 23, 2019 10:24 am

SacBee

PG&E says it does not plan to reimburse Californians affected during its blackout earlier this month, a spokeswoman said Tuesday in response to renewed requests by Gov. Gavin Newsom to compensate residents.

Issuing credits for the shutoff that began Oct. 9 would complicate the utility’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, PG&E spokeswoman Lynsey Paulo said.

“Consistent with our policies and the state’s electric tariffs regarding weather-related outages, we are not considering reimbursements or bill credits,” Paulo wrote in a statement.

Newsom first asked for Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to pay $100 credits to households and $250 credits to small businesses affected during the massive power shutoff and reiterated the request in a letter he sent Tuesday to PG&E’s CEO William Johnson.

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Thu Oct 24, 2019 6:29 pm

View from my back yard

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu Oct 24, 2019 6:44 pm

Don't steer into the drift.

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Thu Oct 24, 2019 7:12 pm

It's drifting away from us fortunately (for us!) but headed toward more structures. I don't know if they've named it yet.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Fri Oct 25, 2019 5:20 pm

There's the Tick Fire east of Santa Clarita.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Fri Oct 25, 2019 5:46 pm

USA Today

Pacific Gas & Electric, California's biggest utility, says a broken jumper wire was found on a transmission tower near where the raging Kincade Fire broke out two days ago in northern California.

The utility said in a filing with state regulators that it registered an outage at the tower at 9:20 p.m. PT on Wednesday, only seven minutes before the fire erupted near the Sonoma County wine country town of Geyserville.

The blaze, only 5% contained on Friday, quickly swelled to 34 square miles, burned 290 buildings and forced the evacuation of 2,000 people.

Although PG&E had cut power on some lines in the area Wednesday afternoon because of concern over threatening weather, the utility said had kept the power flowing on that particular stretch of high-voltage transmission lines, which carry electricity from the power plant to various substations, because winds there had not triggered shutdown protocols.
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PG&E CEO Bill Johnson said it was too soon to know if the faulty equipment ignited the fire. He said the tower had been inspected four times in the past two years and appeared to have been in excellent condition.

CAL FIRE says that the cause of the fire is “under investigation.”

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Fri Oct 25, 2019 7:46 pm

Isgrimnur wrote: Fri Oct 25, 2019 5:20 pm There's the Tick Fire east of Santa Clarita.

That's the fire the pic was from. We can't find the fire or the smoke anymore but apparently everything is still locked down.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Fri Oct 25, 2019 7:55 pm

Things could get even more crazy in NorCal this weekend:

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon Oct 28, 2019 12:28 pm

LA Daily News

Los Angeles firefighters battled a blaze early Monday that started next to the 405 Freeway and Getty Center Drive and had swelled to 500 acres by 7 a.m., prompting evacuation orders affecting thousands of homes and the closure of at least 18 schools.

At 9 a.m., the southbound 405 Freeway was being closed from the 101 Freeway to Sunset Boulevard. Southbound traffic is going to be diverted to the 101 Freeway.

Various freeway ramps remain closed, while the northbound 405 stayed open.

More than 10,000 structures, both residential and commercial, were under evacuation orders, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Mayor Eric Garcetti said during a morning news briefing that he saw at least five destroyed homes.

Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Eric Scott said in an update that no injuries had been reported.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Mon Oct 28, 2019 2:31 pm

well, our power went out Saturday night around 8pm and is still off (only internet is here at work in SF). Ordered a bunch of UPS's from Amazon as soon as I got in! Picking up a Yeti cooler as well. Looks like they *may* start restoring power today, after investigating downed lines from the winds etc (gusts of 102 mph were reported in the Kincade fire area - which has pretty much doubled in size due to the hurricane force gusts to 66k acres now).

More "wind events" incoming Tuesday night it sounds like, so if they don't restore power, we could be without power at home through Thursday.

PS - our home is in a pretty safe place and I'm not expecting actual fires, but need to be prepared! couldn't find my hand crank radio, but had enough batteries for that.

Anonymous Bosch · Post by **Anonymous Bosch** » Wed Oct 30, 2019 7:00 pm

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Wed Oct 30, 2019 7:23 pm

Anonymous Bosch wrote: Wed Oct 30, 2019 7:00 pm

got a transcript of the allegation? ABC and video always screw up my browser.

FWIW, PG&E is the largest utility in the State, and Newsom was the odds on favorite to become Gov, they'd be stupid not to donate, IMHO. If that's the issue, it's a nothingburger.