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NORTH COAST, Calif. – Cal Fire said it has arrested a Santa Rosa man for arson after he was found setting a fire near Geyserville early Wednesday morning.
Cal Fire law enforcement officers arrested Andrew Craig Faulkner, 25, following the incident.
At 6:05 a.m. Wednesday Cal Fire responded to the 13000 Block of Rockpile Road in Geyserville on a report of a wildland fire.
Arriving engine crews confirmed the fire and were quickly able to contain it to three and a half acres, Cal Fire said.
While on scene, Cal Fire said the crews were able to identify a subject who was present in the area.
Faulkner subsequently was arrested and booked into the Sonoma County Jail on charges of arson of forest covered land, arson during state of emergency and burning lands of another, Cal Fire said.
Cal Fire urged community members to be vigilant in their preparedness and aware of suspicious persons when a fire does start.
Suspicious activity should be reported, including the time, the individual’s physical description and a vehicle description, including the license plate number.
Always contact law enforcement, never approach a suspicious person.
Anyone with information about arson is urged to contact the Cal Fire Arson Hotline at 1-800-468-4408. Callers can remain anonymous.
Cal Fire law enforcement officers arrested Andrew Craig Faulkner, 25, following the incident.
At 6:05 a.m. Wednesday Cal Fire responded to the 13000 Block of Rockpile Road in Geyserville on a report of a wildland fire.
Arriving engine crews confirmed the fire and were quickly able to contain it to three and a half acres, Cal Fire said.
While on scene, Cal Fire said the crews were able to identify a subject who was present in the area.
Faulkner subsequently was arrested and booked into the Sonoma County Jail on charges of arson of forest covered land, arson during state of emergency and burning lands of another, Cal Fire said.
Cal Fire urged community members to be vigilant in their preparedness and aware of suspicious persons when a fire does start.
Suspicious activity should be reported, including the time, the individual’s physical description and a vehicle description, including the license plate number.
Always contact law enforcement, never approach a suspicious person.
Anyone with information about arson is urged to contact the Cal Fire Arson Hotline at 1-800-468-4408. Callers can remain anonymous.
Oct. 24 to 31 is Bat Week, an annual international celebration of these fascinating winged mammals and the important role they play in our environment.
California is home to 25 species of bats, ranging from the commonly found Mexican free-tailed bat, a medium-sized bat that makes its home in caves, attics, under bridges and in abandoned structures, and canyon bat, smallest of California’s bats with a wingspan of about seven inches, to the western mastiff bat, which has a wingspan of almost two feet.
Bats – which are the only mammals that can fly – can be found in just about every corner of California.
They serve several hugely important functions, including pest management, pollination of rare plants and seed dispersal.
About two-thirds of bats are insectivorous. Each night, a bat will consume between 50 and 100 percent of its own weight in insects.
They protect our food crops and timber industry – worth more than $57 billion per year – and if it weren’t for bats, farmers might need to use far more chemical pesticides than they do now.
Nationwide, the service bats provide to American agriculture by suppressing insect populations has been valued at an estimated $4 billion to $50 billion per year.
Unfortunately, population declines have caused 17 of California’s 25 native bat species to receive some level of state or federal protection. And the threat is only increasing.
California Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists are preparing for the possibility of the introduction of a fungus known to be deadly to bats.
In June, the fungus that causes White-nose Syndrome, or WNS, was detected in low levels for the first time in Plumas County.
The fungus – Pseudogymnoascus destructans – grows in and on bats’ skin during winter hibernation and spreads quickly through bat colonies.
WNS has killed more than six million bats elsewhere in the U.S. and minimizing its impacts on California’s bats is a top priority for CDFW’s Nongame Wildlife Program.
“Given the huge impact WNS has had on eastern populations of bats, and its occurrence now in Washington state, it is essential to be vigilant for signs of an outbreak of the disease in California so we can take appropriate action, when needed,” said Scott Osborn, CDFW’s lead for WNS response.
Californians can learn more about WNS, including how to report bats that could be suffering from the disease, on CDFW’s website.
In addition to reporting bats that might be suffering from WNS, other ideas to promote bat conservation can be found on the Bat Week 2019 website.
For example:
– You can report bat sightings using the North American Bat Tracker, and help biologists document the location and health of existing bat colonies.
– You can take an urban bat walk in many communities. Contact your local nature center, museum, zoo or other educational institution to see if a bat expert is available to lead a walk.
– You can build a bat house for your own yard, helping to promote a healthy environment in your own backyard.
– You can plant a bat-friendly garden that attracts night pollinators, like moths, that bats like to eat.
“In addition to the important ecosystem functions they provide, bats are simply amazing animals,” said Osborn. “They occupy a completely unique niche among animals: they fly, they use echolocation to navigate at night and capture insects in complete darkness, and many hibernate to escape the harsh conditions of winter when their insect prey is unavailable. When you consider all these adaptations are packaged in an animal that weighs about as much as a nickel, you can’t help but feel a sense of awe.”
California is home to 25 species of bats, ranging from the commonly found Mexican free-tailed bat, a medium-sized bat that makes its home in caves, attics, under bridges and in abandoned structures, and canyon bat, smallest of California’s bats with a wingspan of about seven inches, to the western mastiff bat, which has a wingspan of almost two feet.
Bats – which are the only mammals that can fly – can be found in just about every corner of California.
They serve several hugely important functions, including pest management, pollination of rare plants and seed dispersal.
About two-thirds of bats are insectivorous. Each night, a bat will consume between 50 and 100 percent of its own weight in insects.
They protect our food crops and timber industry – worth more than $57 billion per year – and if it weren’t for bats, farmers might need to use far more chemical pesticides than they do now.
Nationwide, the service bats provide to American agriculture by suppressing insect populations has been valued at an estimated $4 billion to $50 billion per year.
Unfortunately, population declines have caused 17 of California’s 25 native bat species to receive some level of state or federal protection. And the threat is only increasing.
California Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists are preparing for the possibility of the introduction of a fungus known to be deadly to bats.
In June, the fungus that causes White-nose Syndrome, or WNS, was detected in low levels for the first time in Plumas County.
The fungus – Pseudogymnoascus destructans – grows in and on bats’ skin during winter hibernation and spreads quickly through bat colonies.
WNS has killed more than six million bats elsewhere in the U.S. and minimizing its impacts on California’s bats is a top priority for CDFW’s Nongame Wildlife Program.
“Given the huge impact WNS has had on eastern populations of bats, and its occurrence now in Washington state, it is essential to be vigilant for signs of an outbreak of the disease in California so we can take appropriate action, when needed,” said Scott Osborn, CDFW’s lead for WNS response.
Californians can learn more about WNS, including how to report bats that could be suffering from the disease, on CDFW’s website.
In addition to reporting bats that might be suffering from WNS, other ideas to promote bat conservation can be found on the Bat Week 2019 website.
For example:
– You can report bat sightings using the North American Bat Tracker, and help biologists document the location and health of existing bat colonies.
– You can take an urban bat walk in many communities. Contact your local nature center, museum, zoo or other educational institution to see if a bat expert is available to lead a walk.
– You can build a bat house for your own yard, helping to promote a healthy environment in your own backyard.
– You can plant a bat-friendly garden that attracts night pollinators, like moths, that bats like to eat.
“In addition to the important ecosystem functions they provide, bats are simply amazing animals,” said Osborn. “They occupy a completely unique niche among animals: they fly, they use echolocation to navigate at night and capture insects in complete darkness, and many hibernate to escape the harsh conditions of winter when their insect prey is unavailable. When you consider all these adaptations are packaged in an animal that weighs about as much as a nickel, you can’t help but feel a sense of awe.”
NORTH COAST, Calif. – The latest report on the Burris fire in Mendocino County shows a larger fire footprint as the incident moves within reach of full containment.
The fire began Sunday afternoon on Highway 20 and Potter Valley Road.
On Wednesday night, Cal Fire said the fire was up to 703 acres, with containment at 90 percent.
No structures remain threatened and all of the evacuation warnings previously issued have been lifted, Cal Fire said.
Cal Fire also said there have been no injuries to firefighters or civilians.
Fire resources will be patrolling throughout the night to mitigate spotting, and working to strengthen and hold existing containment lines, Cal Fire said.
Resources Cal Fire said remain assigned include 304 personnel, 29 engines, one water tender, eight hand crews and two dozers.
Email Elizabeth Larson atThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
The fire began Sunday afternoon on Highway 20 and Potter Valley Road.
On Wednesday night, Cal Fire said the fire was up to 703 acres, with containment at 90 percent.
No structures remain threatened and all of the evacuation warnings previously issued have been lifted, Cal Fire said.
Cal Fire also said there have been no injuries to firefighters or civilians.
Fire resources will be patrolling throughout the night to mitigate spotting, and working to strengthen and hold existing containment lines, Cal Fire said.
Resources Cal Fire said remain assigned include 304 personnel, 29 engines, one water tender, eight hand crews and two dozers.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – As power continues to be restored across Lake County following two overlapping Pacific Gas and Electric public safety power shutoffs, many of Lake County’s schools and both community colleges will return to classes on Thursday morning.
A key exception is Middletown Unified School District, which said it is remaining closed while an advisory evacuation order for the Kincade fire remains in place for the Cobb Mountain and Middletown areas and until power is restored.
As of Wednesday night, the district reported that power had not yet been restored in all areas of Hidden Valley Lake, Middletown and Cobb.
The district also reported that the football game between Middletown and Cloverdale High School has been rescheduled for Friday, Nov. 8, at Cloverdale High School.
Other schools remaining closed on Thursday include all of those in the Konocti Unified School District, Lake County International Charter School and the Lake County Office of Education’s Clearlake Community School, according to Rob Young of the Lake County Office of Education.
Young – along with posts on social media from the districts – confirmed that Lake County schools that will be open Thursday include Kelseyville Unified School District; Lakeport Unified School District, with its annual Halloween parade to go forward as scheduled downtown; the Lake County Office of Education’s Hance Community School; Lucerne Elementary School, which has a minimum day scheduled; and Upper Lake Unified School District.
Regarding the two community colleges, Mendocino College reported that power at its Ukiah campus, North County Center in Willits and Lake Center in Lakeport has been restored, and normal class schedules will resume at these three locations on Thursday.
Mendocino College said its Coast Center in Fort Bragg is still without power and classes scheduled before noon at that location on Thursday will not be held.
The Lake County Campus of Woodland Community College in Clearlake said Wednesday night that it also has power once again and so classes will be in session on Thursday.
The college asked students who have issues that prevent them from attending class to contact their instructors.
Email Elizabeth Larson atThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
A key exception is Middletown Unified School District, which said it is remaining closed while an advisory evacuation order for the Kincade fire remains in place for the Cobb Mountain and Middletown areas and until power is restored.
As of Wednesday night, the district reported that power had not yet been restored in all areas of Hidden Valley Lake, Middletown and Cobb.
The district also reported that the football game between Middletown and Cloverdale High School has been rescheduled for Friday, Nov. 8, at Cloverdale High School.
Other schools remaining closed on Thursday include all of those in the Konocti Unified School District, Lake County International Charter School and the Lake County Office of Education’s Clearlake Community School, according to Rob Young of the Lake County Office of Education.
Young – along with posts on social media from the districts – confirmed that Lake County schools that will be open Thursday include Kelseyville Unified School District; Lakeport Unified School District, with its annual Halloween parade to go forward as scheduled downtown; the Lake County Office of Education’s Hance Community School; Lucerne Elementary School, which has a minimum day scheduled; and Upper Lake Unified School District.
Regarding the two community colleges, Mendocino College reported that power at its Ukiah campus, North County Center in Willits and Lake Center in Lakeport has been restored, and normal class schedules will resume at these three locations on Thursday.
Mendocino College said its Coast Center in Fort Bragg is still without power and classes scheduled before noon at that location on Thursday will not be held.
The Lake County Campus of Woodland Community College in Clearlake said Wednesday night that it also has power once again and so classes will be in session on Thursday.
The college asked students who have issues that prevent them from attending class to contact their instructors.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors will hold a special joint meeting with the city councils of Clearlake and Lakeport on Thursday morning to confirm a state of emergency declaration issued by the sheriff and to discuss matters related to the public safety power shutoffs and the Kincade fire.
The meeting will take place beginning at 10 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 31, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
The meeting can be viewed online at https://countyoflake.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx and on the county of Lake’s Facebook page.
On the agenda is consideration of a letter to the California Public Utilities Commission titled, “PSPS Events are tearing the fabric of California’s most vulnerable communities, and citizens are unable to plan their lives: When will the Commission intervene?”
The city of Clearlake and Lakeport, and the county of Lake issued a joint message on Wednesday explaining the letter:
“Many of you expressed frustration and concerns that PSPS Events cannot become the new normal in California. We are grateful for the generosity of those that shared their personal stories, and many more were severely affected and simply did not have time to convey their concerns to City and County leaders,” the message said.
“The hardships you are facing are not acceptable in any way. These recent PSPS Events represent Lake County’s 11th disaster in a four-year period, and County and City leaders have heard loud and clear: enough is enough. Your feedback is represented in this draft Letter to the Public Utilities Commission,” the message continued.
The local governments invited community members to come to the meeting on Thursday to provide public input.
For community members who can’t attend the meeting in person to give input, they are invited to email comments to the county of Lake atThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
The full text of the letter can be seen below.
Also on the agenda, Sheriff Brian Martin will provide a report on the Kincade fire – burning since Oct. 23 primarily in Sonoma County and later moving just inside Lake County’s southwestern border near Cobb – and provide an update on the impacts of the public safety power shutoffs.
One of the meeting’s main items of business will be the board’s consideration of Martin’s state of emergency proclamation issued on Tuesday.
The board also will hold a discussion regarding the county’s issues and impacts resulting from Pacific Gas and Electric’s public safety power shutoff events.
County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson’s memo to the board said staff is requesting an opportunity to discuss a variety of related issues and impacts with the board and councils including shutoff impacts; the PG&E application process for residents needing reimbursement for food loss resulting from the shutoff; state funding to be made available for local jurisdictions for shutoff events; and wireless data concerns and needs during shutoffs.
Huchingson said a PG&E representative has asked to attend the meeting.
Email Elizabeth Larson atThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
October 31, 2019
President Marybel Batjer
California Public Utilities Commission
505 Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94102
Subject: PSPS Events are tearing the fabric of California’s most vulnerable communities, and residents are unable to plan their lives: when will the Commission intervene?
President Batjer and Commissioners:
As you are aware, no County is better able to understand the threat of wildfire and disaster than Lake County.
Prior to recent weeks, we had suffered ten cumulative natural disasters in a four-year period. Those disasters threatened many things that we hold dear. Through no fault of their own, a generation of Lake County’s young people will grow up with less security in their environment than any of us would like due to our repeated natural disasters, leaving them less available to benefit from formal education at a critical stage. That reality rightfully frustrates and enrages many of our residents at a core level.
Lake County residents have endured enough. Natural disasters, brought in unheard of frequency in part due to Global Climate Change, informed by human decisions made continents away from Lake County; those were enough.
Decades of State and Federal policies that isolated, rather than strengthening our communities in our times of need, deepening the human and economic suffering of our people, were enough.
Our struggles to recover from the Great Recession of 2008, and the effects of our host of deep rooted and systemic educational and economic challenges, leading to an above average violent crime rate and simultaneously underfunded public agencies, were enough.
All of these hardships were more than enough to more than frustrate the sense of normalcy of countless people in our County, and the compounding effects have already shortened lives and led to some of the worst statistical health outcomes in the United States.
Now, however, our friends and neighbors are facing a very particular and wholly unacceptable kind of human informed disaster, and the California Public Utilities Commission has accepted, even authorized this destructive, frankly abusive, pattern.
Our 11th disaster in four years was brought not by wildfire, not by flood, but by the negligence and abuse of authority of the Pacific Gas & Electric Company and the California Public Utilities Commission.
Take Marian, for example, an 83-year-old Clearlake resident who fractured multiple bones in her ankle just prior to the October 9 Public Safety Power Shutoff. Despite the fact winds were not severe in her area, she was left without power for more than 48 hours. Living alone and unable to move around her house, Marian was left without ability to contact the outside world. Her iPhone didn’t work because of the inappropriately broad footprint of that PSPS event, caused by woefully inadequate grid management. Disruptions to the phone system of her medical provider, also caused by the PSPS, delayed her access to medical care for a full week. Enough is Enough!
What about Jess, a struggling Lake County resident, who uses every dime she has to attend to the needs of her young grandson? They lost everything in their refrigerator due to the 10/9 PSPS, and were without many basics, such as hot water. Jess, like so many in our communities, reported to our Board, “It would be nice to have a generator, but we barely make ends meet as it is.” Jess is no complainer. Jess is resilient, even grateful in the face of challenge, but she is facing severe circumstances, brought by decisions of your Commission. Enough is enough!
What about family-owned businesses, like the Lake County espresso shop that lost $6,000 during the 10/9 PSPS Event, and reported, “If this goes on, it will come to a breaking point where I will not be able to pay my bills and/or my tax obligations, which are very high in the month of October.”
What about the highly popular Lakeport-based restaurant and ice cream shop, regionally famous for their outstanding burgers, that lost more than $8,000 in food and ice cream, not to mention lost sales, during the 10/9 PG&E outage? They are facing very serious decisions about how to proceed, and the owner, also a local high school teacher and engaged member of the community, said, “I employ 25 individuals who have families of their own, four with babies at home. As a small business owner, I’m all in, we count on daily sales to survive … it’s now 8 days [in October] with no power.”
What about the employees of all such California businesses, once robust, now teetering in the face of a PSPS-created unknown?
Enough is enough, but what about the innumerable low income County residents whose ability to meet even their most fundamental needs was severely threatened by loss of work and wages? We all heard of these cases through friends and family, and we helped where we could, but where was PG&E, and where was the Commission, when rent came due, and a lack of power had left these individuals subject to undue stress, late fees, credit card debt and fear of eviction, through absolutely no fault of their own? Enough is enough!
Our County government, already faltering from the many types of disasters we have recently faced, was not spared by the PSPS. We prepared in advance, and we fought with everything we had to respond once the PSPS came, spending $672,700 on generators and installation, not mention the unsustainable organizational financial and other costs associated with loss of at least 800 staff working hours in anticipation and during the 10/9 PSPS Event, alone, at a time when our departments are understaffed by greater than 20%.
Lake County’s fiscal crisis is well known, well publicized. Senator McGuire, Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry, our Board, and County staff have brought our financial condition to the attention of the State Legislature and your Commission. Did PG&E or the CPUC extend an appropriate and affordable opportunity for us to prepare our residents and governments prior to hitting us with wave after wave of outages? No. Enough is more than enough!
So many of the people affected, so many of our friends and neighbors are anonymous in their suffering. It is not an option for PG&E’s leadership and your Commission to remain anonymous while California’s most vulnerable deal with the effects of your misconceptions and wrong-headed decisions. We will not stand by, as Lake County residents continue to bear the cost!
PG&E’s horrifically maintained electrical infrastructure has been found responsible for some of the largest wildfire events in recorded history, quite possibly including the Kincade Fire, which in fact broke out during a PSPS. Those wildfire events caused financial devastation, and tore at every fiber of social fabric in California’s communities and resulted in dozens of wrong and highly preventable deaths. Yet, despite these obvious, unfathomable failures of insight from their highest leadership, your Commission has enabled the Pacific Gas & Electric Company to hold Californians hostage by initiating crippling power outages in the name of “Public Safety?”
What has been the result? Decision after decision, clearly made toward the end of protecting PG&E’s own legal interests, and their own bottom line, at thoroughly unwieldy expense to California’s utility rate and taxpayers.
Clearly, PSPS Events are not the solution, and cannot be allowed to become our new normal. The public depends on the CPUC to stand up to abuse by our Public Utilities, and they deserve much, much better.
Enough is enough, for Lake County, and all residents of California.
Sincerely,
LAKE COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
Chair Tina Scott, District 4
Moke Simon, District 1
Bruno Sabatier, District 2
Eddie Crandell, District 3
Rob Brown, District 5
LAKEPORT CITY COUNCIL
Mayor Tim Barnes
Council member Mireya Turner
Council Member Stacey Mattina,
Council Member Kenneth Parlet III
Mayor Pro Tem George Spurr
CLEARLAKE CITY COUNCIL
Mayor Russ Cremer
Council member Joyce Overton
Council member Dirk Slooten
Council member Phil Harris
Council member Russ Perdock
The meeting will take place beginning at 10 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 31, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
The meeting can be viewed online at https://countyoflake.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx and on the county of Lake’s Facebook page.
On the agenda is consideration of a letter to the California Public Utilities Commission titled, “PSPS Events are tearing the fabric of California’s most vulnerable communities, and citizens are unable to plan their lives: When will the Commission intervene?”
The city of Clearlake and Lakeport, and the county of Lake issued a joint message on Wednesday explaining the letter:
“Many of you expressed frustration and concerns that PSPS Events cannot become the new normal in California. We are grateful for the generosity of those that shared their personal stories, and many more were severely affected and simply did not have time to convey their concerns to City and County leaders,” the message said.
“The hardships you are facing are not acceptable in any way. These recent PSPS Events represent Lake County’s 11th disaster in a four-year period, and County and City leaders have heard loud and clear: enough is enough. Your feedback is represented in this draft Letter to the Public Utilities Commission,” the message continued.
The local governments invited community members to come to the meeting on Thursday to provide public input.
For community members who can’t attend the meeting in person to give input, they are invited to email comments to the county of Lake at
The full text of the letter can be seen below.
Also on the agenda, Sheriff Brian Martin will provide a report on the Kincade fire – burning since Oct. 23 primarily in Sonoma County and later moving just inside Lake County’s southwestern border near Cobb – and provide an update on the impacts of the public safety power shutoffs.
One of the meeting’s main items of business will be the board’s consideration of Martin’s state of emergency proclamation issued on Tuesday.
The board also will hold a discussion regarding the county’s issues and impacts resulting from Pacific Gas and Electric’s public safety power shutoff events.
County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson’s memo to the board said staff is requesting an opportunity to discuss a variety of related issues and impacts with the board and councils including shutoff impacts; the PG&E application process for residents needing reimbursement for food loss resulting from the shutoff; state funding to be made available for local jurisdictions for shutoff events; and wireless data concerns and needs during shutoffs.
Huchingson said a PG&E representative has asked to attend the meeting.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
October 31, 2019
President Marybel Batjer
California Public Utilities Commission
505 Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94102
Subject: PSPS Events are tearing the fabric of California’s most vulnerable communities, and residents are unable to plan their lives: when will the Commission intervene?
President Batjer and Commissioners:
As you are aware, no County is better able to understand the threat of wildfire and disaster than Lake County.
Prior to recent weeks, we had suffered ten cumulative natural disasters in a four-year period. Those disasters threatened many things that we hold dear. Through no fault of their own, a generation of Lake County’s young people will grow up with less security in their environment than any of us would like due to our repeated natural disasters, leaving them less available to benefit from formal education at a critical stage. That reality rightfully frustrates and enrages many of our residents at a core level.
Lake County residents have endured enough. Natural disasters, brought in unheard of frequency in part due to Global Climate Change, informed by human decisions made continents away from Lake County; those were enough.
Decades of State and Federal policies that isolated, rather than strengthening our communities in our times of need, deepening the human and economic suffering of our people, were enough.
Our struggles to recover from the Great Recession of 2008, and the effects of our host of deep rooted and systemic educational and economic challenges, leading to an above average violent crime rate and simultaneously underfunded public agencies, were enough.
All of these hardships were more than enough to more than frustrate the sense of normalcy of countless people in our County, and the compounding effects have already shortened lives and led to some of the worst statistical health outcomes in the United States.
Now, however, our friends and neighbors are facing a very particular and wholly unacceptable kind of human informed disaster, and the California Public Utilities Commission has accepted, even authorized this destructive, frankly abusive, pattern.
Our 11th disaster in four years was brought not by wildfire, not by flood, but by the negligence and abuse of authority of the Pacific Gas & Electric Company and the California Public Utilities Commission.
Take Marian, for example, an 83-year-old Clearlake resident who fractured multiple bones in her ankle just prior to the October 9 Public Safety Power Shutoff. Despite the fact winds were not severe in her area, she was left without power for more than 48 hours. Living alone and unable to move around her house, Marian was left without ability to contact the outside world. Her iPhone didn’t work because of the inappropriately broad footprint of that PSPS event, caused by woefully inadequate grid management. Disruptions to the phone system of her medical provider, also caused by the PSPS, delayed her access to medical care for a full week. Enough is Enough!
What about Jess, a struggling Lake County resident, who uses every dime she has to attend to the needs of her young grandson? They lost everything in their refrigerator due to the 10/9 PSPS, and were without many basics, such as hot water. Jess, like so many in our communities, reported to our Board, “It would be nice to have a generator, but we barely make ends meet as it is.” Jess is no complainer. Jess is resilient, even grateful in the face of challenge, but she is facing severe circumstances, brought by decisions of your Commission. Enough is enough!
What about family-owned businesses, like the Lake County espresso shop that lost $6,000 during the 10/9 PSPS Event, and reported, “If this goes on, it will come to a breaking point where I will not be able to pay my bills and/or my tax obligations, which are very high in the month of October.”
What about the highly popular Lakeport-based restaurant and ice cream shop, regionally famous for their outstanding burgers, that lost more than $8,000 in food and ice cream, not to mention lost sales, during the 10/9 PG&E outage? They are facing very serious decisions about how to proceed, and the owner, also a local high school teacher and engaged member of the community, said, “I employ 25 individuals who have families of their own, four with babies at home. As a small business owner, I’m all in, we count on daily sales to survive … it’s now 8 days [in October] with no power.”
What about the employees of all such California businesses, once robust, now teetering in the face of a PSPS-created unknown?
Enough is enough, but what about the innumerable low income County residents whose ability to meet even their most fundamental needs was severely threatened by loss of work and wages? We all heard of these cases through friends and family, and we helped where we could, but where was PG&E, and where was the Commission, when rent came due, and a lack of power had left these individuals subject to undue stress, late fees, credit card debt and fear of eviction, through absolutely no fault of their own? Enough is enough!
Our County government, already faltering from the many types of disasters we have recently faced, was not spared by the PSPS. We prepared in advance, and we fought with everything we had to respond once the PSPS came, spending $672,700 on generators and installation, not mention the unsustainable organizational financial and other costs associated with loss of at least 800 staff working hours in anticipation and during the 10/9 PSPS Event, alone, at a time when our departments are understaffed by greater than 20%.
Lake County’s fiscal crisis is well known, well publicized. Senator McGuire, Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry, our Board, and County staff have brought our financial condition to the attention of the State Legislature and your Commission. Did PG&E or the CPUC extend an appropriate and affordable opportunity for us to prepare our residents and governments prior to hitting us with wave after wave of outages? No. Enough is more than enough!
So many of the people affected, so many of our friends and neighbors are anonymous in their suffering. It is not an option for PG&E’s leadership and your Commission to remain anonymous while California’s most vulnerable deal with the effects of your misconceptions and wrong-headed decisions. We will not stand by, as Lake County residents continue to bear the cost!
PG&E’s horrifically maintained electrical infrastructure has been found responsible for some of the largest wildfire events in recorded history, quite possibly including the Kincade Fire, which in fact broke out during a PSPS. Those wildfire events caused financial devastation, and tore at every fiber of social fabric in California’s communities and resulted in dozens of wrong and highly preventable deaths. Yet, despite these obvious, unfathomable failures of insight from their highest leadership, your Commission has enabled the Pacific Gas & Electric Company to hold Californians hostage by initiating crippling power outages in the name of “Public Safety?”
What has been the result? Decision after decision, clearly made toward the end of protecting PG&E’s own legal interests, and their own bottom line, at thoroughly unwieldy expense to California’s utility rate and taxpayers.
Clearly, PSPS Events are not the solution, and cannot be allowed to become our new normal. The public depends on the CPUC to stand up to abuse by our Public Utilities, and they deserve much, much better.
Enough is enough, for Lake County, and all residents of California.
Sincerely,
LAKE COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
Chair Tina Scott, District 4
Moke Simon, District 1
Bruno Sabatier, District 2
Eddie Crandell, District 3
Rob Brown, District 5
LAKEPORT CITY COUNCIL
Mayor Tim Barnes
Council member Mireya Turner
Council Member Stacey Mattina,
Council Member Kenneth Parlet III
Mayor Pro Tem George Spurr
CLEARLAKE CITY COUNCIL
Mayor Russ Cremer
Council member Joyce Overton
Council member Dirk Slooten
Council member Phil Harris
Council member Russ Perdock
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said Wednesday morning that it issued a weather “all clear” for nearly all of the areas impacted by the Tuesday public safety power shutoff, with Sheriff Brian Martin reporting that the company has indicated most of the power to Lake County will be restored by nightfall.
PG&E said the all clear means winds subsided to safe levels, clearing the way for crews to begin safety inspections of deenergized equipment, repair any wind damage and, ultimately, restore power to hundreds of thousands of customer accounts across the region, including all of those in Lake County.
Kern County is expected to be all clear for inspections on Thursday morning, given continued significant wind activity in the southern part of PG&E’s service area.
Sheriff Brian Martin told Lake County News Wednesday afternoon that PG&E had reported that it expected to have power restored to 80 percent of Lake County’s 37,441 customer accounts by sundown on Wednesday.
The remaining 20 percent will be in spots around the county, not entire neighborhoods, Martin said.
PG&E spokesperson Deanna Contreras separately confirmed that power restoration time estimate.
She added that power lines in the Kincade fire area in south Lake County are not expected to be reenergized at this time.
As of 2:20 p.m., Contreras did not have numbers on how many Lake County customer accounts, if any, had been restored.
Martin said Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman reported that power was on in Ukiah by Wednesday afternoon.
County officials said that that PG&E issued the all clear for Lake County at 5:22 a.m., and that PG&E had inspected some of the transmission lines impacting Lake County on Tuesday night.
A major transmission line, running from Williams through the town of Mendocino, was being patrolled on Wednesday morning. Lake County officials said that, once that line is cleared it will make significant restoration more possible. That line was reported to be a high priority for PG&E.
PG&E said more than 6,300 personnel and 46 helicopters are working on safety patrols and equipment repairs, which take place largely during daylight hours. The company has secured mutual assistance of approximately 1,100 electric workers from other utilities to help with inspections and repairs.
Lake County has 715.1 lines of electrical distribution line and 201 miles of transmission line, according to PG&E.
The company has previously said its goal is to restore powers to areas within 48 hours of the all clear, but that time can vary due to the extent of damage discovered.
Inspection work continues for two shutoff events
PG&E said inspection and restoration work was continuing on Wednesday for customers impacted by the larger public safety power shutoff that began Saturday.
That weekend shutoff impacted 973,000 customer accounts in portions of 38 counties, including all of Lake.
The shutoff event that began on Tuesday impacted 516,000 customer accounts in portions of 22 counties, with Lake County once again included. In the Tuesday event, 400,000 customers from the previous shutoff also were impacted.
From these two most recent shutoff events, approximately 365,000 customers remained out of power while 723,000 customers had been restored as of 10 a.m. Wednesday, PG&E said.
Local officials told Lake County News that only about 7 percent of Lake County’s 37,441 customer accounts had power restored early Tuesday, primarily in the Clearlake area, before power was cut once again.
The ongoing outages caused Sheriff Martin on Tuesday to declare a state of emergency, as Lake County News has reported.
The Board of Supervisors is expected to ratify that emergency proclamation at a special meeting at 10 a.m. Thursday. The board will meet jointly at the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport with the city councils of Clearlake and Lakeport.
For the Tuesday shutoff, PG&E said the number of impacted counties decreased from original estimates, as weather conditions changed and as the company was able to sectionalize parts of its grid to allow for greater precision in the shutoffs.
Counties that were removed from the shutoff scope were Alameda, Contra Costa, Humboldt, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Mateo and Siskiyou, PG&E said.
PG&E said it will continue to operate community resource centers for affected customers, providing restrooms, bottled water, ice, blankets, food, electronic-device charging and air-conditioned seating for up to 100.
Centers will remain open during daylight hours, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., until power has been restored in those areas.
In Lake County, there are four community resource centers: Clearlake Senior Community Center, 3245 Bowers Ave.; Konocti Vista Casino, 2755 Mission Rancheria Road, Lakeport; Upper Lake Unified School District, 725 Old Lucerne Road; and a center reopened on Wednesday morning at Twin Pine Casino & Hotel, 22223 Highway 29, Middletown.
PG&E had reported that it planned to distribute blankets at centers on Wednesday due to cold conditions.
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PG&E said the all clear means winds subsided to safe levels, clearing the way for crews to begin safety inspections of deenergized equipment, repair any wind damage and, ultimately, restore power to hundreds of thousands of customer accounts across the region, including all of those in Lake County.
Kern County is expected to be all clear for inspections on Thursday morning, given continued significant wind activity in the southern part of PG&E’s service area.
Sheriff Brian Martin told Lake County News Wednesday afternoon that PG&E had reported that it expected to have power restored to 80 percent of Lake County’s 37,441 customer accounts by sundown on Wednesday.
The remaining 20 percent will be in spots around the county, not entire neighborhoods, Martin said.
PG&E spokesperson Deanna Contreras separately confirmed that power restoration time estimate.
She added that power lines in the Kincade fire area in south Lake County are not expected to be reenergized at this time.
As of 2:20 p.m., Contreras did not have numbers on how many Lake County customer accounts, if any, had been restored.
Martin said Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman reported that power was on in Ukiah by Wednesday afternoon.
County officials said that that PG&E issued the all clear for Lake County at 5:22 a.m., and that PG&E had inspected some of the transmission lines impacting Lake County on Tuesday night.
A major transmission line, running from Williams through the town of Mendocino, was being patrolled on Wednesday morning. Lake County officials said that, once that line is cleared it will make significant restoration more possible. That line was reported to be a high priority for PG&E.
PG&E said more than 6,300 personnel and 46 helicopters are working on safety patrols and equipment repairs, which take place largely during daylight hours. The company has secured mutual assistance of approximately 1,100 electric workers from other utilities to help with inspections and repairs.
Lake County has 715.1 lines of electrical distribution line and 201 miles of transmission line, according to PG&E.
The company has previously said its goal is to restore powers to areas within 48 hours of the all clear, but that time can vary due to the extent of damage discovered.
Inspection work continues for two shutoff events
PG&E said inspection and restoration work was continuing on Wednesday for customers impacted by the larger public safety power shutoff that began Saturday.
That weekend shutoff impacted 973,000 customer accounts in portions of 38 counties, including all of Lake.
The shutoff event that began on Tuesday impacted 516,000 customer accounts in portions of 22 counties, with Lake County once again included. In the Tuesday event, 400,000 customers from the previous shutoff also were impacted.
From these two most recent shutoff events, approximately 365,000 customers remained out of power while 723,000 customers had been restored as of 10 a.m. Wednesday, PG&E said.
Local officials told Lake County News that only about 7 percent of Lake County’s 37,441 customer accounts had power restored early Tuesday, primarily in the Clearlake area, before power was cut once again.
The ongoing outages caused Sheriff Martin on Tuesday to declare a state of emergency, as Lake County News has reported.
The Board of Supervisors is expected to ratify that emergency proclamation at a special meeting at 10 a.m. Thursday. The board will meet jointly at the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport with the city councils of Clearlake and Lakeport.
For the Tuesday shutoff, PG&E said the number of impacted counties decreased from original estimates, as weather conditions changed and as the company was able to sectionalize parts of its grid to allow for greater precision in the shutoffs.
Counties that were removed from the shutoff scope were Alameda, Contra Costa, Humboldt, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Mateo and Siskiyou, PG&E said.
PG&E said it will continue to operate community resource centers for affected customers, providing restrooms, bottled water, ice, blankets, food, electronic-device charging and air-conditioned seating for up to 100.
Centers will remain open during daylight hours, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., until power has been restored in those areas.
In Lake County, there are four community resource centers: Clearlake Senior Community Center, 3245 Bowers Ave.; Konocti Vista Casino, 2755 Mission Rancheria Road, Lakeport; Upper Lake Unified School District, 725 Old Lucerne Road; and a center reopened on Wednesday morning at Twin Pine Casino & Hotel, 22223 Highway 29, Middletown.
PG&E had reported that it planned to distribute blankets at centers on Wednesday due to cold conditions.
Email Elizabeth Larson at