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PG&E lacked basic training before blackouts

The nation's largest utility entered 2019 planning to "de-energize" its aging electric grid so downed power lines couldn't spark a blaze.
Credit: AP/(Kent Porter/The Press Democrat via AP, File
FILE - In this Oct. 23, 2019, file photo, Elijah Carter 11, left, and Robert Haralson, 12, help shop for their parents in a darkened Olivers Supermarket during a blackout in the Rincon Valley community in Santa Rosa, Calif. When Pacific Gas & Electric set up emergency operations centers to coordinate intentional blackouts intended to prevent wildfires in Northern California, the nation's largest utility forgot one thing, emergency managers who knew the fundamentals of emergency management in California. (Kent Porter/The Press Democrat via AP, File)

SAN FRANCISCO — When Pacific Gas & Electric intentionally cut power to Northern California last fall, few of its emergency managers had learned the fundamentals of managing an emergency in their home state.

The nation's largest utility entered 2019 planning to "de-energize" its aging electric grid so downed power lines couldn't spark a blaze.

Yet only a handful of the hundreds of people who handled the blackouts were trained in the disaster response playbook used in California. 

The October 2019 outages brought chaos. By contrast, three power shutoffs this fall have been smoother after most of the emergency managers completed the training.

For the full AP story, click HERE.

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