Pacific Gas & Electric planned shutdown today

[disneychrista]

I was wondering about power generators. When they cut power for fire risk, does that also mean personal generators are banned?

No. And stores are selling them as soon as they come in.

 

[bcla]

I was wondering about power generators. When they cut power for fire risk, does that also mean personal generators are banned?

I never heard of any restrictions, and I'm not sure what that would accomplish. This was a decision made by a power utility and not one that was mandated by any government agency. The worry was about power lines being damaged in high winds with dry conditions, and then starting/spreading fires. There weren't any restrictions on starting internal combustion engines, using any kind of flammable cooking devices (gas stoves or grills), etc.

I have heard of campground fire restrictions in certain conditions, but that's not quite an issue with residential neighborhoods.

 

[mnrose]

All of Marin could be without power and it STILL would affect only a small percentage of the people who live in the entire Bay Area. Marin is the LEAST populated county in the Bay Area (population about 270K out of the nearly 7 million who live in the Bay Area), and is mainly public lands (of one form or another). It is also extremely hilly, with many trees....and it's very fire prone. Most of the electrical grid is above ground, and of course, with the hills, Marin is also susceptible to high winds. I can completely understand why they've cut power there....even though it is beyond inconvenient.

 

[bcla]

All of Marin could be without power and it STILL would affect only a small percentage of the people who live in the entire Bay Area. Marin is the LEAST populated county in the Bay Area (population about 270K out of the nearly 7 million who live in the Bay Area), and is mainly public lands (of one form or another). It is also extremely hilly, with many trees....and it's very fire prone. Most of the electrical grid is above ground, and of course, with the hills, Marin is also susceptible to high winds. I can completely understand why they've cut power there....even though it is beyond inconvenient.

Sure. However, Marin is extremely affluent, and there are only a handful of poorer areas in the county. But they (like myself) choose to live in an area that is supposed to maintain a "wild" character with all those trees. Then there's West Marin which is more agricultural. I'm not sure that it's mostly public lands, although GGNRA, Point Reyes NS, and Mt Tamalpais State Park do take up most of West Marin. I've been in the northern half and there's a lot of private farmland there. Marin Water District does own a lot of the land around the reservoirs. Still - I'm not sure about the fire danger there.

You're certainly correct that Marin is mostly hills and valleys. There isn't a whole lot of flat areas other than maybe some of the 101 corridor.

 

[VandVsmama]

I am the first to complain about all things PG&E but the person you spoke with was not being truthful at all. I live in the bay area and of all the people my husband and I know and work with only a few have lost power, it is certainly not 'literally the entire SF Bay Area (except SF itself)' and we don't live in SF itself, so that's certainly not the reason we don't know many people without power.

This whole debacle has been ridiculous, with horrible communication from PG&E, but it is a very far cry from the entire SF Bay Area being without power, that's an extreme hyperbole that does no one any good to spread around.

No offense, but the person who told me this I am very close to and is an honest person, doesn't lie, and is very trustworthy. We will have to agree to disagree on this.

 

[mnrose]

Sure. However, Marin is extremely affluent, and there are only a handful of poorer areas in the county. But they (like myself) choose to live in an area that is supposed to maintain a "wild" character with all those trees. Then there's West Marin which is more agricultural. I'm not sure that it's mostly public lands, although GGNRA, Point Reyes NS, and Mt Tamalpais State Park do take up most of West Marin. I've been in the northern half and there's a lot of private farmland there. Marin Water District does own a lot of the land around the reservoirs. Still - I'm not sure about the fire danger there.

You're certainly correct that Marin is mostly hills and valleys. There isn't a whole lot of flat areas other than maybe some of the 101 corridor.

The entirety of the Bay Area is extremely affluent. Are there poor people? Absolutely. But, it takes a LOT of money to live anywhere in the 7 county Bay Area. Compared to the rest of America, it's a wealthy area across the board. 85% of Marin's land is protected from development...public and MALT (Marin Agricultural Land Trust) lands make up that 85%. It's why it's so darn desirable to live there. I lived in the hills of Mill Valley. The fire danger in that area at this time of year is extreme. No doubt about it. And, many of those neighborhoods have exactly one road "out", meaning the risk is even that much higher should a fire start.

 

[mnrose]

Bo

No offense, but the person who told me this I am very close to and is an honest person, doesn't lie, and is very trustworthy. We will have to agree to disagree on this.

Ok, but it's an EXAGGERATION. It simply isn't true. Perhaps the plane's route went out over Marin (a common route, BTW), and most of Marin WAS out of power, but Marin (as noted above) accounts for less than 5% of the population of the Bay Area. Moreover, even if you went out over Marin by plane when the power was working everywhere, lots of it (85+%) would still appear to be without lights because it IS! All the time. So to this person it "looked" like that the "entire" area was without power because they don't understand the population corridors of the Bay, and what they were seeing. The person was still incorrect. Continuing to insist on "facts" which aren't "facts" is just wrong.

 

[gillep]

No offense, but the person who told me this I am very close to and is an honest person, doesn't lie, and is very trustworthy. We will have to agree to disagree on this.

I don't think your friend is untrustworthy or lying about what they saw, they saw an area without power, as there are quite a few. The issue is that those areas are a very small portion of the SF Bay Area. I live here, my husband lives and works here, we haven't encountered any area without power, my husband even had back surgery during all this so I was driving an hour to and from the hospital each day multiple times a day and didn't encounter a single area without power. None of my friends are without power at either their homes or places of work, it is not the entire SF Bay Area, far from it. That doesn't make it less of a disaster either.

 

[VandVsmama]

So getting back to the topic at hand instead of the tangent conversation, the fact that there will be 10 YEARS of regular power outages is just totally ridiculous. There is no reason in the state of CA that people should need to have back up power equipment like you'd need in a 3rd world country.

Also, I'm not sure what the state of the state's forestry and land management is or whether that is a county, state, or federal government managed thing, but perhaps the powers that be might want to get a handle on that in all of the fire-prone areas that have overhead electrical lines. Maybe start with the areas that run electricity from all of the wind farms into urban/suburban areas?

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

So getting back to the topic at hand instead of the tangent conversation, the fact that there will be 10 YEARS of regular power outages is just totally ridiculous. There is no reason in the state of CA that people should need to have back up power equipment like you'd need in a 3rd world country.

Also, I'm not sure what the state of the state's forestry and land management is or whether that is a county, state, or federal government managed thing, but perhaps the powers that be might want to get a handle on that in all of the fire-prone areas that have overhead electrical lines. Maybe start with the areas that run electricity from all of the wind farms into urban/suburban areas?

It would also help too if CA didn't let new development in high risk areas (even going against Fire Marshall's recommendations). Fires may still happen but the risk to property damage and human life (and pet life) would be lessened as would fuel sources. Might make it easier too in times of trying to control it if they don't have to divert resources into evacuations.

IMO CA shares some of the blame here. They've known (and participated to a degree) in the corrupt nature of PG&E. They knew about it decades ago, gave money to them anyways a couple years ago and of course not even half of that money went to what it should have gone to (burying the lines underground and other things). Though some people in positions of power did speak out against them. Who knows what could have happened had the company been held fully responsible (and perhaps gone) long ago..

 

[bcla]

Bo



Ok, but it's an EXAGGERATION. It simply isn't true. Perhaps the plane's route went out over Marin (a common route, BTW), and most of Marin WAS out of power, but Marin (as noted above) accounts for less than 5% of the population of the Bay Area. Moreover, even if you went out over Marin by plane when the power was working everywhere, lots of it (85+%) would still appear to be without lights because it IS! All the time. So to this person it "looked" like that the "entire" area was without power because they don't understand the population corridors of the Bay, and what they were seeing. The person was still incorrect. Continuing to insist on "facts" which aren't "facts" is just wrong.

Part of it would be that the Bay Area is actually quite rural with quite a bit of protected open space. The majority of people live in very narrow corridors along the shoreline and in valleys. If you take a look at one of the maps, it seems like most of San Mateo County was shut down. However, even when power is on, a lot of these rural areas barely have visible lights because few people live there.

What was different about Marin was that they basically shut down all the power, including in the most populated areas and commercial zones. I was hearing on the news about people just going into San Francisco just to buy things. Going north to Sonoma probably wouldn't have been a great idea because of the fire and smoke.

 

[superme80]

We got our power back on Wednesday. Our internet was restored today. The power outages were awful. The first outage I was at Disneyland, so I lost ALL of my food. We have been slowly trying to build up when this next round of power outages happened. Thankfully we have a generator, so we were able to keep our fridge and tv running. We are on a well, so we had no water during the power outage. I live in a very small town, so many of us have run out of water and were unable to shower or really flush the toilet. There were a couple of days with high winds, but for the most part it was pretty calm. PG&E is on my bad list. Rumor is we in for another round of outages next week.

 

[disneychrista]

I lost ALL of my food. We have been slowly trying to build up when this next round of power outages happened....Rumor is we in for another round of outages next week.

I’m afraid to buy more than a day or two of food at a time. Can’t really afford to lose it all again. I fully expect another shut off before rainy season.

 

[RamblingMad]

I’m afraid to buy more than a day or two of food at a time. Can’t really afford to lose it all again. I fully expect another shut off before rainy season.

You can get one of those portable fridges that you can connect to a battery that will provide a couple days charge. Use them for car camping.

 

[superme80]

I’m afraid to buy more than a day or two of food at a time. Can’t really afford to lose it all again. I fully expect another shut off before rainy season.

Yup. So it makes cooking a huge pain! What do we have? Can we make it until the next power outage? Can I bake anything? Just ugh!!! Saving grace is my stove is Propane!!!

 

[barkley]

spoke with a family member who has been talking of moving out of california w/in the next couple of years before all this stuff started happening. he's been looking at home repairs and improvements that would make his property more marketable when it comes time to list it-now near the top of the list is a whole house generator. he's got a smaller portable one but it only runs so much-and when you're on well water the loss of access to that is a huge impact. we've got one to deal with weather related outages and if i were in california i wouldn't hesitate to put one in (tremendous peace of mind).

 

[ajlsjl]

I grew up in Marin County (Novato), and my heart is breaking for everyone in the area. Novato will forever be "home" for me, and knowing what's going on out there is just plain scary. To everyone affected, please stay safe.

 

[superme80]

spoke with a family member who has been talking of moving out of california w/in the next couple of years before all this stuff started happening. he's been looking at home repairs and improvements that would make his property more marketable when it comes time to list it-now near the top of the list is a whole house generator. he's got a smaller portable one but it only runs so much-and when you're on well water the loss of access to that is a huge impact. we've got one to deal with weather related outages and if i were in california i wouldn't hesitate to put one in (tremendous peace of mind).

We are looking at that too. I have been wanting to move for years, DH is finally starting to come around.

 

[mnrose]

I grew up in Marin County (Novato), and my heart is breaking for everyone in the area. Novato will forever be "home" for me, and knowing what's going on out there is just plain scary. To everyone affected, please stay safe.

I bought my very first home in Novato. I love that town. We still own a house there (we rent it out).

 

[barkley]

I bought my very first home in Novato. I love that town. We still own a house there (we rent it out).

i remember as a young teen going each year to the ren faire at black point forest in novato.