Manteca officials are advising there is no expectation that PG&E will be implementing a planned power cutoff in San Joaquin County in the coming week.
The message from the city came on the heels of an advisory PG&E issued Friday that there is a possibility power could be shut off in parts of the Bay Area, the hills to the west of Sacramento Valley, the Sierra foothills and mountains from El Dorado County north to Butte County.
“To be clear, a Public Safety Power Shutoff event has not been called,” said PG&E spokesperson Deanna Contreras.
That said due to predicted hot, windy, and dry conditions on Monday and Tuesday PG&E opted to advise that what they call a potential “Public Power Safety Shutoff” could be called if conditions worsen. Right now the expectation in the three areas mentioned is for “elevated” wildfire condition concerns.
“Elevated” on the scale PG&E is using to advise its 16 million customers of potential planned power outages is a step below “PSPS Watch”. The odds of power being cutoff are greatest when PG&E issues the third and final level before the plug is actually pulled for an area.
A map noting how areas are broken down and the warning scale along with a seven day outlook can be found at https://www.pge.com/…/natur…/wildfires/psps-weather-map.page
The weather being monitored is farther north in the foothills and Sierras than the area served by the transmission line that passes through Manteca and provides power to much of San Joaquin County.’
A City of Manteca Facebook post notes, “Before any false information begins to circulate, we want to ensure our citizens that this event DOES NOT impact San Joaquin County based on the current weather forecast.”
PG&E imposed plans for intentional power cutoffs when certain conditions for wildfires — low humidity, heavy fuel loads, hot weather and high winds — to avoid a repeat of their equipment potentially starting a blaze Like the one in Butte County 10 months ago when 86 people were killed, 14,000 homes destroyed, and 5,000 other strictures burned.
PG&E’s website also has advice on what people should do to prepare for a prolonged power outage, planned or otherwise.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
