Oct. 31-- Oct. 31--Power has been restored to about 13,000 customers in Sonoma County, including people in parts of Graton, Sebastopol, Monte Rio and other areas of west county.
People in parts of Santa Rosa, including some homes in Proctor Terrace and Rincon Valley, also are no longer in the dark.
It remains unclear how long it will take PG to turn on the lights to all 87,000 Sonoma County customers who have been without power due to a preemptive power outage aimed at preventing high winds from damaging power lines and sparking a fire.
Graton resident John Nagle, back at home on Wednesday afternoon, was among those whose home just went from one blackout to another without getting power back -- though he was and his wife were evacuated due to the Kincade fire and didn't have to endure any cold, dark nights in their home.
But they came back to check on the house Wednesday just in time to find the power back and a PG crew working to restore their natural gas service.
"We just got tired of being at other family's houses, and figured we'd come check it out and clean out the freezer, because that stuff was probably going to be bad, too," he said.
PG spokeswoman Deanna Contreras said that, depending on damage in the aftermath of the most recent period of extreme winds Tuesday night, the restoration process will go line by line as soon as inspectors clear them, she said.
"We want to restore power as quickly as we can," Contreras said. "It depends on where the damage is found."
Full restoration would occur "as soon as it is safe to do so," she said, noting the fire could limit crews access to some PG equipment. To hasten the tedious process, the utility is working with Cal Fire to inspect lines and towers.
Many county customers who lost power Saturday, in the utility's third outage in a little more than a week, did not regain power before PG went ahead with its latest outage, the fourth this month. Others may have regained power briefly, only to lose it again.
PG line inspections could include areas still under evacuation orders but outside the fire zone, such as Coffey Park, as long as it's safe for crews to be there, Contreras said. She counted more than 6,000 workers and more than 40 helicopters working to inspect lines, report observations and map progress as part of the power restoration process.
More than 100 other PG workers will be in the Cloverdale, Graton and Forestville areas Wednesday to restore natural gas service, she said. PG shut off the gas to some 23,000 Sonoma County customers with service lines near the fire for safety reasons.
Contreras said gas service had been restored to about 50% of Cloverdale and that crews would focus there again Wednesday before turning attention to Graton and Forestville. She said that PG workers can't restore gas if residents do not answer the door and that restoration also would depend on the fire footprint. Customers are asked to not try to re-light their own pilot lights.
"We are focused on areas where customers are returning home," she said. "We definitely want to make sure the gas is on when customers return home or shortly after they return home."
Source: INACTIVE-Tribune Regional
(October 31, 2019 - 12:23 AM EDT)
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