Calistoga and other areas of the valley lose power
Roughly 1,600 PG&E customers in Calistoga lost power in an unplanned outage Monday morning, according to PG&E. Power was restored to most of those customers just before 1:40 p.m.
Megan McFarland, spokesperson for PG&E, explained the company recently activated its Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings (EPSS) in high fire threat districts. The safety settings allow powerlines to automatically turn off power in one-tenth of a second in high-fire risk areas.
“This can happen when there’s a hazard, like a tree branch falling into a powerline, which can cause a fire,” McFarland said.
When an EPSS setting is triggered, PG&E crews must patrol the entire circuit to ensure no damage or hazards are present. Helicopters, when possible, will conduct aerial patrols.
“Extra crews will be brought in when ground patrols are needed and can be done safely and as quickly as possible to restore service to our customers,” she said.
McFarland confirmed that at about 10:56 a.m., the EPSS settings were triggered on one of the distribution lines in the Calistoga area and 1,607 customers were without power.
A PG&E team, according to the utility company’s website, evaluated the electrical system to identify damaged sections and make necessary repairs in order to safely turn the power back on.
Calistoga Public Information Officer Jed Matcham said the entire town was not affected and suggested people monitor the areas through the PG&E website, pge.com.
Areas of Rutherford and Oakville also lost power. The estimated time for restoring power in these areas is 9 p.m.
