Editor’s note: Due to the outages and internet speeds are very slow we are drastically limiting the number of photos and videos in this post. Comment here or in Facebook about load speeds so we can better assess how to deliver you the news.
UPDATE 2:15 a.m. — Looks like they didn’t quite succeed in getting Gualala going today, but work might progress quickly in parts of the county tomorrow.
Here is Supervisor Ted Williams from Facebook with lots of details. PG&E has never been particularly keen to discuss the details of their operations with the press and at this point it appears that the only people getting any kind of detailed answers are politicians:
Wednesday morning:
PG&E notified us of re-energization “up to Gualala”. I’m asking residents to confirm and help us understand what “up to” means in terms of boundaries. At 2:25am Jennifer Tester-Caughey reported no restoration approximately 1.5 miles from “downtown Gualala” on Old Stage Road and noted generator noise all around. Hrpmh. Voltage stabilization issues impeded multiple attempts to bring up Point Arena. New estimate is mid-day. The 115kv transmission line from Lake County to north of Lake Mendocino will progress after an “all clear” and approximately three hours of inspections starting around day light. The 60kv lines to Anderson Valley and the coast are expected to move forward concurrently at a similar pace.
After hearing of Comptche running out of fuel and missing deliveries, I reached out to CEO Carmel Angelo who assigned Deputy CEO Steve Dunnicliff. Steve had a face to face with the distributor and gained a commitment of delivery today. Thanks to those who notified us about the situation and to Steve for quick remedy.
County Department or Transportation is using maintenance trucks to maintain the Little River Airport generator until a delivery arrives.
State Senator Mike McGuire showed support for our landline concern and it’s appreciated. “We’re working a land line telephone outage in some areas of coastal Mendocino County. According to @ATT, some batteries at their landline facilities have run out of power. We also know that some North Coast cell towers are impacted due to power issues. The California Office of Emergency Services is aware of the outage and is working with telecom companies to bring in additional power generators. @ATT has told the state that these generators will be deployed to the region this morning.”
https://www.facebook.com/107224696002158/posts/2658416314216304?sfns=mo
Supervisor Lynda Hopkins of Sonoma County, covering the coast south of our 5th district, is following our effort to query residents about failing landlines. We’re stronger together — chronicling landline failure and working with our neighbors will force better coordination next round. Please continue to share data-points with me.
Burris Fire off Potter Valley Rd and Hwy 20, east of Calpella in Mendocino County is 350 acres and 75% contained.
The Kincade Fire is now visible from the Sutro Tower In San Francisco. Observed sustained wind and gust speeds from across the region this night are attached in photo. The strongest winds were in the North Bay in vicinity of the Kincade Fire. Mount St. Helena recorded 50 mph winds with 57 mph gusts, Pine Flat Road recorded 40 mph winds and 54 mph gusts, and the Healdsburg Hills saw 30 mph hour winds and 46 mph gusts. Winds were forecasted to peak around midnight, gradually weaken this morning. The fire grew slightly over the course of Tuesday, adding just 723 acres at final report, for a total acreage of 76,138 acres. All eyes await the morning acreage report. Containment increased to 15 percent on Tuesday, but ember spread remains a key concern while the wind continues. 9 strike teams coordinated by the Oregon Office of State Fire Marshal are assisting along with 911 dispatchers from Santa Clara, Palo Alto, Vacaville, Elk Grove Police, Mountain View San Jose Police Departments.
UPDATE 7:00 p.m. — Ukiah Unified Schools will be closed tomorrow. The district has announced that they’ll reopen the schools once the power is back on.
UPDATE 5:45 p.m. — The staff and political representatives of the County of Mendocino have been pressing PG&E for information on the status of their repair and restoration work, and from what they describe PG&E has been difficult to communicate and less than forthright, but here is what they have now.
The gist is that work is continuing on power lines through Gualala to Point Arena, this is possible because as weather models show, that portion of the county will no be affected by the high off-shore winds. Tomorrow PG&E hopes to re-energize Philo, which will allow them to turn on parts of the Anderson Valley and the town of Mendocino.
At the other end of the county Leggett and maybe even Laytonville might be receiving power sooner than other places as they are more tied into the grid through Humboldt, where damage and winds have been less severe.
Restoration of power to greater Ukiah is being prioritized and the utility company claims that power might be restored tomorrow afternoon.
Because of the way the grid is built Willits is downstream of Ukiah, and Fort Bragg is downstream of Willits. Electricity is not water, and things can be rearranged somewhat, but this is very roughly the case. Once power is restored to Ukiah is should be easier to repair and restore the lines to Willits and then to Fort Bragg and to finally get those electrons moving.
This is surely something that the people of Mendocino County don’t need to be reminded of, but it’s nonetheless worth noting that there is a big difference between the hard working men and women are employed by PG&E and the executives and shareholders calling the shots. From linemen to engineers and call-center workers, the skilled employees of PG&E are mostly doing their best to try to restore our power, and communicate with us, under tough conditions — and they should not be lumped in with the likes of people like the CEO Bill Johnson who has been with the company and in California less than a year.
Here is the press release from the county:
Update #2: October 29 PG&E Public Safety Power Shutoff Event
Post Date: 10/29/2019 5:00 PM
The County of Mendocino is currently monitoring the scope of the October 29 Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) event in Mendocino County. This event is very dynamic, and the County is dependent on PG&E to provide accurate, updated information that can be shared with the public.
Mendocino County is still experiencing county-wide outages as part of the PG&E October 29 PSPS event. The weather event is estimated to conclude early tomorrow morning, Wednesday, October 30, and PG&E estimates an “all clear” by 8:00am. Mendocino County received a call from PG&E’s Emergency Operation Center at 4:15pm today to provide details regarding power restoration over the next 24 hours.
PG&E is attempting to restore power tonight to the south coast from Gualala to Point Arena. In addition, PG&E is working towards restoring power tomorrow morning at the Philo substation which will power the Philo area and the coast from Point Arena to the Town of Mendocino. PG&E is prioritizing restoration of the transmission line feeding the greater Ukiah area in hopes power will be restored tomorrow afternoon. Once the Ukiah area is restored PG&E will have more capacity with their power lines to restore the northern portions of the County including Willits and Fort Bragg. The County will continue to update the public as new information is received from PG&E.
For more information, please contact the Executive Office at 707-234-6030. For updated County information on the public safety power shut off, please visit www.mendocinocounty.org/psps or follow the County on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mendocinocounty and twitter https://twitter.com/countymendocino.
UPDATE 4 p.m. — The County of Mendocino released a statement shortly before 4 p.m. today warning that county residents who have had their power shut-off should prepared that power restoration may not occur until sunset on Friday, November 1, according to the most recent estimate provided to county officials by PG&E.
Here’s the full announcement from Mendocino County; the original article can be found below. PG&E will be holding their evening press conference at 5:30 p.m. which you can watch on the company Twitter.
Additionally, according to an update on social media from Supervisor Ted Williams, “County Health and Human Services Director moved on homeless cold weather concern and will be registering folks at 5pm who need to get indoors at the 1045 S State, Ukiah shelter.”
Post Date:10/29/2019 3:55 PM
The County of Mendocino is currently monitoring the scope of the October 29 Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) event in Mendocino County. This event is very dynamic, and the County is dependent on PG&E to provide accurate, updated information that can be shared with the public.
Mendocino County is still experiencing county-wide outages as part of the PG&E October 29 PSPS event. The weather event is estimated to conclude early tomorrow morning, Wednesday, October 30, and PG&E estimates an “all clear” by 8:00am. Following the “all clear” PG&E staff will begin assessment of the power lines followed by restoration of power. PG&E estimates customers impacted by the October 29 will have power restored by sundown on Friday, November 1. The County will release any updated information on the power outages and re-energization timelines as they become available.
For more information, please contact the Executive Office at 707-234-6030. For updated County information on the public safety power shut off, please visit www.mendocinocounty.org/psps or follow the County on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mendocinocounty and twitter https://twitter.com/countymendocino.
WILLITS, 10/29/19 — Early this morning Pacific Gas & Electric announced that they would beginning yet another “public safety planned shut-off,” what PG&E calls these intentional blackouts, in Mendocino County — once again cutting power to effectively the entire county, though what exactly that means, given that they never turned the power back on is unclear. In light of these continued blackouts the schools in the county will continue to be closed, as will Mendocino College, though the Mendocino Office of Education asks parents to check on the specific websites and social media sites of their district.
As to what it means that PG&E began a new blackout during a black out, some have speculated that it meant that they had simply given up on finishing repairs before the latest bout of high winds, others considered that they had decided it was too expensive to try to restore power so briefly, just to have to shut it off again.
Whatever the reason, restoration work is not expected to begin till 8 a.m. tomorrow morning, when their meteorologists will sound the “all clear,” meaning that the “wind event” is over and repair and re-energization can begin. Still, it could easily take another 24 to 48 hours (or even longer) beyond that before power is fully restored to all parts of the county.
In response to these disasters, both the outage and the recent fires, the State of California has put together website, Response.ca.gov, to give Californians information about where to find resources. The County has put together an power shut-off information page, and if you scroll down to “Additional Resources,” you can find lists of businesses, gas stations, grocery stores, and more that are expected to remain open.
The Mendocino Voice will be continuing to compile information from our readers on our Twitter, and Facebook page with videos, photos, and places to share information about what is open. Keep in mind that many locations may not be able to take credit or debit cards, or may not be receiving their usual deliveries, and be prepared for long lines. (Here’s our coverage from Monday). However, Redwood Credit Union is open, as is the Costco gas station (no membership required), several hotels, Friedmans, Home Depot, Black Oak, the Valero at the north end of Ukiah, the Coyote Valley gas station, and Browns Corner in Willits among others. Hoppers Corner in Potter Valley is out of gas.
In the incorporated cities of Mendocino essential services like water and sewage continue to function, though many traffic lights have gone out. When approaching a dead traffic light treat it as a four-way stop.
And as though to compound our prolong outage, and critical fire weather, the North Coast is due to get some frigid temperatures tonight, with frost and freeze warnings announced by the National Weather Service. But fire weather is more tied to relative humidity and wind speed, not heat, and both those things will remain problematic for the next 24 hours. As a result the National Weather Service has continued to place much of the North Coast and North Bay under a red flag warning for critical fire weather. Winds are expected to be picking up this afternoon, and peaking late tonight, though continuing to blow strong into tomorrow morning.
And in response to the outages and difficulties, AT&T has extended unlimited data to their customers, contact AT&T for more information.
A small fire broke out in Willits earlier this morning, but in typical fashion the Little Lake Fire Department with mutual aid from the Brooktrails Department got it out quick. During these trying times and inclement weather, local fire departments and Cal Fire are doing an extraordinary job of quickly responding to new fires and controlling them.
Also, Cal Fire explained to us in an interview yesterday, it should be noted that the aircraft, the tanker planes and helicopters, are a “regional resource.” That means that they are constantly flying back and forth between different fires where they’re needed, rather than being assigned to a single fire. These planes are most effective in the early minutes of a fire, when they can make large retardant drops to slow its spread before ground crews can arrive on the scene — so even as the planes were directly working on the dire Kincade Fire to the south, they were able to quickly peel off to drop retardant on the Burris Fire in Potter Valley, and later on the very small fire in Willits yesterday.
The outage has also affected the ability of telecom companies to maintain phone lines. Internet has slowed to a crawl for many customers across the region, and several areas of the coast experienced a landline failure, due to AT&T’s system losing power.
During this blackout, which may run to five days, personal hardships, especially for the sick and elderly, have been significant, but the economic costs have yet to be calculated. First there are the direct loss of things like refrigerated food, then the costs of preparation, like the purchase of solar panels and generators, and finally several days of closed businesses and lost work, with thousands of hourly workers having to miss work, and those paychecks.
Public officials across the state have begun to express grave frustration with the utility company, with Govern Gavin Newsom repeatedly denouncing the way PG&E has handled these outages at a press conference in Santa Rosa yesterday. Here are home Mendocino County CEO Carmel Angelo, “PGE is creating a public health emergency for the people in Northern California. Something MUST be done before someone dies due to PSPS.”
Said Supervisor John McCowen, “I know this is an ordeal for many, I honestly am so frustrated by this imposed emergency that I have tears in my eyes as I am typing this.”
In a brief statement via text, Supervisor Ted Williams said, “The response from PG&E is changing but the bottom line is we expected a discussion about whether shareholders or ratepayers would absorb the risk and it seems PG&E found a third option, the counties. Our county can’t afford this problem, not in mitigation or the staff time it’s sucking up.”
Here is Carmel Angelo’s statement:
I don’t believe anything PGE reports right now. Everything they told us was inaccurate. They have good staff (Alison Talbot) as liaisons but they don’t empower or inform their liaisons. PGE is creating a public health emergency for the people in Northern California. Something MUST be done before someone dies due to PSPS.
Mendocino County CEO Carmel Angelo from social medial
This morning District 5 Supervisor Ted Williams wrote the following:
Tuesday morning: Zero county residents were restored between PSPS events. Faulty and ambiguous information has continued to flow from the utility. My current guestimate for restoration is Thursday with potential for further delay. Fire weather will shift when rain begins, which probably won’t happen until temperatures rise and this isn’t in the ten day forecast.
An AT&T field contact confirmed our landline concern was heard with top down support for deploying generators and increased refueling efforts. Long fuel lines were sighted as impeding AT&T. Carmel Angelo, can we ask Sheriff Allman and PDs to assist telecom trucks to the front of the fuel line? (Bernie Norvell, Jessica Morsell-Haye) Please remember, no matter the distaste for the shut-off, field workers are on our side, here to make the situation better. Let’s support them the best we can. Little River received a telecom generator (photo credit Mitchell Sprague) and Shai Larsen reported her Albion Ridge landline working.
Update: 13 more generators were deployed on the coast with 16 more in route on trailers today. AT&T crews report being directed to the front of fuel lines.
While some of us have been in discomfort without hot showers, folks on the street have experienced plummeting overnight temperatures. I spoke with Health and Human Services Director Tammy Moss-Chandler last night about shelter status. The extreme weather shelters were not open, but every attempt is being made to adjust the opening schedule to get vulnerable humans out of the cold. The Ukiah shelter requires electricity for the sanitation infrastructure, a detail we will need to revisit post PSPS. We’ve asked the Hospitality House to open early in Fort Bragg.
County CEO Carmel Angelo offered choice words this morning “I don’t believe anything PGE reports right now. Everything they told us was inaccurate. They have good staff (Alison Talbot) as liaisons but they don’t empower or inform their liaisons. PGE is creating a public health emergency for the people in Northern California. Something MUST be done before someone dies due to PSPS.”John Redding shared a reality check regarding notices received by Coast Hospital “The power at the hospital has not been restored, despite information from PG&E that it would be turned on at 4:30 am. Same bad information as Harvest received. Latest estimate, for what its worth, is Thursday. Please note that the Emergency Room is open and some surgeries are being done but the Clinic and Immediate Care are not b/c those don’t have a generator.”
The Burris Fire is now 65% contained, held at 350 acres with evacuation warnings remaining. The East Fire near Willits burned a structure and 1/8 of an acre. The Kincade fire raging in Sonoma County was last reported at 75k acres, 124 structures destroyed, many evacuations remaining in preparation for significant wind. Containment is at 15%. Increased winds are expected by day-break. Critical fire danger weather from 6 pm Tuesday to 11 am Wednesday, with gusts in hills between 40-60 mph, valley 25-40 mph.
Schools remain closed. Lack of communication to schools has made advance cancellation notices difficult. The County will work with schools, but our staff hasn’t had definitive details either.
Little River Airport will have no service after a few more hours when Diesel fuel for the generator runs out. I’m seeing what can be done. DOT is active on it thanks to the report from Dave Thorpe.
Jessica Morsell-Haye offered an update on Fort Bragg services. City Hall will continue to allow charging and water bottles fill during business hours. PD lobby will remain open 24 hours a day as long as the power is out. CRC at CV Starr is open 8am-8pm.
Please continue to send notes to include in our post-PSPS formal complaint. The CPUC is feeling pressure and it’s incumbent upon us to better demonstrate the impacts on rural residents.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Mendocino5thDistrict/permalink/1708221109310574?sfns=moI’ll edit this post with additional details as morning progresses…
Mendocino County Supervisor Ted Williams from social media
He also noted:
Mendocino County has been documenting its experience with PSPS.
The Governor’s Office announced today the allocation of $75 million one-time General Fund, which was appropriated in the 2019-20 Budget Act to support state and local government efforts to protect public safety, vulnerable populations and individuals and improve resiliency in response to utility-led PSPS actions. Half of the funds will be allocated to local governments, $37.5 million to cities and counties, with $26 million specific to counties. At least $150,000 will be awarded to all 58 counties, with additional funding to individual counties based on county size and experience with PSPS.
Mendocino Supervisor Ted Williams from social media
The City of Ukiah put out this press release:
CITY OF UKIAH PSPS UPDATE: ALL OF MENDOCINO COUNTY SUBJECT TO PROLONGED PSPS EVENT
Ukiah, CA. October 29, 2019, 8:45 am – All of Mendocino County is current affected by a second PG&E PSPS event, having never been re-energized after the first event. Residents should prepare for a continued and prolonged power outage. PG&E is forecasting the “weather all clear” for 8:00 am Wednesday, October 30, at which time they will begin inspection and re-energization efforts.
Information from PG&E has been inconsistent and unreliable. While the City continues to pass on information as it is received, we appreciate the frustration with the lack of detail regarding power restoration. Please be assured that City and County staff are working around the clock to keep other essential services operating while pressuring PG&E for information and expedited restoration.The Ukiah Civic Center lobby at 300 Seminary Avenue is open to the public for device charging between 8:00 am and 9:00 pm. Public restrooms, coffee and water are also available. Please note that public wifi is not available at this location.
Within the city limits, water, sewer, and garbage services continue to operate normally. Additionally, Ukiah Police Department and Ukiah Valley Fire Authority have the resources that they need to respond to the safety needs of the community.
Inoperative traffic signals caused by the power outage need to be treated as an all-way stop. The City of Ukiah urges the community to drive slowly and carefully.
Please follow the City of Ukiah’s Facebook page for the most up-to-date info: https://www.facebook.com/cityofukiah/. Alternatively, residents may call (707) 463-6288.
911 should only be used for emergencies.
For more information, please contact: Shannon Riley, Deputy City Manager at [email protected].
Here is John McCowen’s statement”
10/29/19 1:30pm update:
Supervisor John McCowen from social media
Assuming the weather all clear is issued at 8:00am 10/30 they project power will be restored by sundown FRIDAY. They say they have inspected the distribution lines in Mendocino County but their is currently no transmission line that has been cleared for re-energization. No one in Mendocino County currently without power will be re-energized today.
The Community Resource Center (CRC) on N. State is status quo with charging stations, coffee, water and snacks. New CRCs are being opened in other counties and they say they are resupplying existing ones but I will be surprised if any significant supplies show up here. They say they will be supplying blankets and food tomorrow in some areas but it’s not possible to say if that will occur here.
Please remember that the PG&E employees and contractors in the field are not the cause of this event and are working hard to help us get through this. Please do not take your frustrations out on people who are only doing their job. Same goes for the people at the CRCs.
PG&E is attempting to deal with site specific issues related to needs for generators, oxygen, and other critical needs, but I expect that effort will be sporadic at best. Lake County Under Sheriff has just requested a county by county plan or status update for all the requests for specific assistance. He also expressed frustration at lack of any follow through for previous requests for information. Virtually all info has been inconsistent and inaccurate.
Quote of the day from the caller who followed the Under Sheriff: “I just want to echo the frustration of having an update with no update.”
Again, bottom line is power will be out all day today, all day Wednesday, quite possibly all day Thursday, with restoration occurring Friday by sundown. I know this is an ordeal for many, I honestly am so frustrated by this imposed emergency that I have tears in my eyes as I am typing this. Continue supporting each other as we get through this together.
Please do a full investigation of Comcast for not providing internet service in our area. No explanation. No help on the website. Nothing. But I bet they get that bill in mail on time.
Comcast does have an outage report for my ZIP, but, yes, not a lot of disclosure. And absolutely, the bill will be coming soon, with no deductions.
This is total BS
PG&E can kiss my nor cal born and bred ass
This is total BS! I have lived in Willits 25 years and been through some hellacious weather without PG&E cutting power. The wind has not been that bad in Willits. Can’t get gas for generator even if you had one. People with wells have no water. The entirety of PG&E have been living fat and happy and not taking care of their business responsibly obviously. Communication from PG&E has been very poor to none. They knew that even a short period of service between outages would have given people a chance recharge and prepare. They sent me a message saying they may turn my power off again, when in fact they never turned it back on from the first event.
I’m positive not a single PG&E executive has to deal with the hardship most of us are going through. Shame on us for relying on them in regards to our livelyhood, and giving a damn. This will all end with higher utility cost, to cover their negligence, and to employ even more PG&E employees to now handle what they should have been taking care of for many years.
When one considers the actual definitions from the dictionary, PG&E is the arsonist for the Kincaid Fire and are committing domestic terrorism to over a million people. Turning the power off didn’t work or we’d not have the Kincaid Fire. Terrorism is described as an act that causes terror and chaos.
How many devastating fires has this megalithic company caused? Think of the devastating fires last year and the deaths of over 100 people all told. They’ve gotten away with faulty equipment starting other deadly fires over the last couple of decades. Check Cal Fire web sites for past incidents where the finger is pointed at them, but no fines or costs paid back to Cal Fire (or CDF prior to the name change.) This is the latest retribution to customers. “We can’t raise their rates so let’s scare them enough by taking away the power til it hurts and they’ll do anything we ask.” I personally feel this way. I was a firefighter for 14 years and fought my share of blazes caused by their faulty lines.
Do remember, their workers are our neighbors and going thru what we are. Just thank them for their work. It’s the uncaring bureaucrats spinning their web to get us under control that’s at fault
PLO. Hezbollah. Hamas. al-Qaeda. ISIS. PG&E.
The PG&E call center workers are trash, just like the executives. Call them up and ask about BSPS; you’ll get smarmy party line crap. I’m not talking about not being in the know, I mean unapologetic about the very real effects the un-natural disaster are having on folks.
no power= no heat and no food or milk for my 1 year old son. Everything’s gone bad now… it’s not right my baby can’t have real food but is stuck living off of little snacks that can stay fresh and has to be wrapped in a trillion blankets to keep warm at night. I’m so over all of this!!!! What is this doing besides creating chaos! Can’t get any gas or fresh food without hectic behavior.. why? Because everyone is going into panic mode due to PG&E saying they will turn the power on then not then more empty promises and because there are children and elders who have needs, medical needs and food needs. This isn’t right to anybody! Just give us our power back! We don’t pay for this!
The way I see it, is that PGE wants us to suffer and then hold the customer to their demands for much higher rate increases. Bad enough that they apply every year for rate increases and get them also, but now they say it is needed for repairs that they should have done over the past years. Build a company and its the companies obligation to maintain their equipment, not the customer! PGE should be made to answer all of their lack of items/repairs and to keep the customers well informed as to what they are doing. Playing games with the customer will eventually kick back on them…time will tell.