‘It’s very disruptive.’ Parents, schools frustrated by PG&E outage that didn’t happen
Thousands of parents across Northern California rearranged their lives early Wednesday morning in anticipation of yet another round of canceled classes because of a massive intentional PG&E power outage.
They scrambled to find child care. They stayed home from work to care for their children.
Yet the lights stayed on in most of the north state, as PG&E significantly dialed back power outages Wednesday.
In anticipation of gusty winds and dry conditions that could spark another devastating fire, PG&E announced earlier this week it was planning its the fourth major power shut down since October. The utility originally estimated more than 300,000 customers would be without power, before deciding on a final projection of about 150,000 customers across 18 Northern California counties.
But, by mid-Wednesday, the utility said weather conditions proved safer than originally feared, and only 48,000 customers from parts of 10 California counties had their power shut off.
Parents frustrated by school closures
Many parents in the foothills were frustrated at keeping their children home for a power outage that never happened.
When Troy Steinbach woke up Wednesday morning, his Grass Valley street was wet from rain showers, yet he nonetheless had to stay home with his 12-year-old son, Aiden, whose classes at Lyman Gilmore Middle School were canceled.
The Grass Valley, Nevada City and Nevada Joint Union High school districts each canceled classes at all campuses Wednesday, citing a power shutoff that was anticipated to start around 7 a.m. The power stayed on.
Steinbach said his son already has lost more than a week of class time due to the various other power PG&E outages, and he’s worried he and other students are going to lag behind in their studies.
Meanwhile, his wife, Heather Haley, is out hundreds of dollars in recent weeks because she can’t work at her home-cleaning business when the power’s out, he said.
“Ultimately, PG&E is putting the responsibility for their infrastructure on their customers,” Steinbach said. “It’s like, ‘What are you guys doing?’ ”
PG&E spokeswoman Brandi Merlo said the utility “certainly understand the frustration of our customers and appreciates their feedback” but the utility has an obligation to keep them safe from wildfires.
PG&E relies on a complex system of real-time weather forecasts, on-the-ground sensors and other factors to decide whether to shut the power off, she said, noting this is the second driest start to the rainy season in 100 years.
Fire weather and snow flurries
Winds did gust as high as 50 mph in parts of Northern California’s coastal mountain range and in the Sierra foothills, including along the area known as Jarbo Gap near Paradise, said Brendon Rubin-Oster, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento.
The so-called “Jarbo winds” spread last year’s devastating Camp Fire that killed 85 people and destroyed the town of Paradise. PG&E power equipment sparked California’s deadliest wildfire. The utility to begin shutting off power this year in response to similar dangerously windy conditions. The largest outage so far began Oct. 26, effecting 973,153 customers in more than 35 counties.
Wednesday’s outage came even as rain and snow fell in some areas.
A band of precipitation blowing from east to west was over the Tahoe area before 8 a.m., radar images showed. The National Weather Service reported around 10 a.m. that the “abundant cloud cover” continued to flow westward. Parts of the Sierra south of Highway 50 saw snow.
Rubin-Oster said there wouldn’t likely be any more rain in the foothills Wednesday afternoon, though portions of the Sierra could see snow flurries. The wind advisory remained in effect through 10 p.m. Wednesday.
Students’ studies suffer
In Pollock Pines, Wednesday marked the eighth day of school cancellations because of the PG&E outages, though the power wasn’t shut off this time around, said Pat Atkins, superintendent of the Pollock Pines Elementary School District, which has two schools serving 680 children.
He said the school district only builds in six “make-up days” into its schedule in anticipation of closures, typically from snow. Because of the outages, the district’s already burned through all of those before a single snowflake fell.
The district will apply for waivers to ensure it stays fully funded through California’s school financing system that pays districts based on the numbers of students who attend classes each day, but Atkins said the teachers and children are struggling to keep up with their studies from all the missing class time.
“It’s very disruptive to our education and just teaching and learning in general” Atkins said. “The kids get into a rhythm with learning, and any time that rhythm is disrupted due to closing school, it makes it very difficult.”
He said it also burdens their parents.
“A lot of our families work down the hill, and to provide daycare, they need planning time,” Atkins said. “So it makes it difficult all the way around.”
To help families like those, in Placerville, the Boys & Girls Club of El Dorado County Western Slope opened its doors for parents to drop off students free of charge so they wouldn’t have to miss another day of work, said Sean McCartney, the organization’s CEO.
About 150 children showed up.
McCartney said the program will continue accepting children the next time PG&E announces a shutoff.
“Basically, this looks like it’s going to be an ongoing issue until the rain comes and probably continuing into next year,” he said.
This story was originally published November 20, 2019 at 11:35 AM.
