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PG&E: Historic power outage was the 'right call' after 100+ incidents of damage, hazards found

More than 100 incidents of damage and hazards were found in areas impacted by the Public Safety Power Shutoff.

SAN FRANCISCO — After a historic and massive planned power outage that wiped out power to more than 700,000 customers, PG&E is standing by its decision to shut off the power. 

“While we understand and recognize the major disruption this PSPS event imposed on our customers and the general public, these findings suggest that we made the right call, and importantly no catastrophic wildfires were started,” said Michael Lewis, PG&E’s senior vice president of Electric Operations in a statement.

The utility said they found more than 100 incidents of damage or hazards spread across the areas impacted by the power shutoff. They added that these damages could have been possible sources for a wildfire.

RELATED: PG&E says system had 100 incidents of damage during power shutoff

Incidents were found in the following counties:

  • Glenn County: a large tree limb was found lying across an electric line
  • Napa County: a large tree limb was found tangled with a span of wires
  • Santa Clara County: a very large tree branch fell through lines connected to a house
  • Santa Cruz County: a tree fell across the lines
  • Shasta County: a large tree fell into the lines pulling a utility pole from its foundation

PG&E teams continue to review reports from safety inspections of 25,00 miles of distributions lines and 2,500 miles of transmission lines.

RELATED: Newsom: Accountability needed, PG&E should pay customers for power shutoffs

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