ZCZC
BFF-05
US-CALIFORNIA-WILDFIRES-WEATHER
‘Unacceptable’ power cuts blasted as California fire risk spreads south
LOS ANGELES, Oct 11, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Hundreds of thousands of Californians
were still without electricity due to pre-emptive blackouts Thursday as hot,
windy conditions causing wildfires spread south toward Los Angeles, in a
situation blasted as “unacceptable” by the state’s governor.
Some 540,000 customers in California remained in the dark Thursday
afternoon after Pacific Gas & Electric began switching off power the previous
day, in a bid to prevent a repeat of last year’s catastrophic infernos which
killed around 90 people.
Many schools and universities have closed in northern parts of the state
and people stocked up on gasoline, water, batteries and other basics, with
frustration mounting at blackouts condemned by some as “third world.”
“We’re seeing a scale and scope of something that no state in the 21st
century should experience,” Governor Gavin Newsom said Thursday, blaming
decades of “neglect” and “mismanagement” by PG&E.
“What has occurred in the last 48 hours is kids staying home from school,
parents that can’t bathe their kids,” he added. “Folks that come home from
work, can’t even find a way to get into their garage. You’ve got people that
can’t even access water, or medical supplies.
“This can’t be, respectfully, the new normal,” Newsom said, noting that the
current weather conditions were certain to return.
The power cuts enable utility companies to inspect high-voltage lines for
damage during particularly flammable conditions caused by high winds and dry
vegetation.
Newsom said blackouts were “an industry best practice” under dangerous
conditions, but blamed PG&E’s failure to modernize its network for the
current scale of power cuts.
PG&E defended the shutoffs, telling a press conference that inspections
Thursday had found multiple cases of damage that could have caused wildfires
had the lines been live.
“We faced the choice here between hardship on everyone or safety — and we
chose safety,” said CEO Bill Johnson. “And I do apologize for the hardship
this has caused. I think we made the right call.”
With high-risk “red flag” winds spreading to the Los Angeles area further
south, around 13,000 customers of Southern California Edison had their
electricity cut Thursday.
“A number of fires… are burning and there have been structures that have
been lost,” said Mark Ghilarducci, emergency services director at the
governor’s office.
Fire-fighting planes and helicopters were called in to tackle two fires
east of Los Angeles which spread to a combined 900 acres (360 hectares), and
were described by officials as “zero percent contained.”
The local fire department said multiple structures were destroyed and
“numerous medical emergencies” occurred at one of the fires.
– Long wait –
In the far south of the state, San Diego Gas & Electric warned 30,000
customers living in high-risk areas they could potentially lose their power
if conditions worsen.
Urban Los Angeles itself was not expected to be at-risk, although police
Wednesday night said they would clear some vulnerable homeless camps.
Several other small fires were reported further north but quickly tackled
by firefighters.
PG&E on Thursday had completed inspections on some power lines in its
blackout regions, and had restored electricity to more than 228,000 customers
by late afternoon.
But others may have to wait several days for inspections before normal
service can be restored.
Last November, PG&E’s faulty power lines were determined to have sparked
the deadliest wildfire in the state’s modern history, which killed 86 and
destroyed the town of Paradise.
Outdated facilities including vulnerable wooden poles and failure to
deforest land surrounding high-voltage transmission lines were blamed for the
inferno, causing PG&E to go bankrupt in January.
The company agreed to pay an $11 billion settlement over the devastating
wildfires in northern California.
“Those were decisions that were made by Pacific Gas and Electric — they
chose not to modernize their grid,” said Newsom. “Over the course of many,
many years, it led to their own demise, it led to bankruptcy.”
The cost of 48 hours of power cuts could reach $2.6 billion, Michael Wara,
an expert in energy and climate policy at Stanford University, told CNN.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0848 hrs