“We just got a text message saying that it will be shut off starting Thursday and it'll be coming back on Saturday,” said San Miguel resident Sandra Morales.
Power for multiple people in North County was turned off Thursday afternoon due to a Public Safety Power Shutoff or PSPS.
“It's a proactive measure by the utility company and so given the wind events with the heat and humidity, they want to prevent wildfires," said Scott Milner, SLO County Emergency Services Coordinator. "So they proactively de-energize lines and then before they re-energize them they have to inspect them all.”
On Wednesday, PG&E issued a PSPS watch. It was escalated to a warning Thursday morning, a few hours before the outage began.
“That was for a little portion of our county up near the San Miguel area, affecting about 500 customers. But the event affects 15 counties statewide," said Milner.
He says the warning was meant to let the community know of the outage potential, so they could prepare.
PG&E set up a community resource center at the Cuesta College North County Campus. The center is providing power outlets, portable chargers, food and water to anyone who needs it.
Morales says she has multiple concerns when it comes to the power being out an extended period of time.
“Just charging our phones, our groceries, and basically entertaining my kids with their stuff,” said Morales.
According to Milner, there could be more PSPS warnings throughout the summer.
“It's mostly due to the winds and the power lines. So if it's hot weather, low humidity and we get wind events, then they'll get warnings,” said Milner.
He adds there are some things you should do to be prepared for outages:
- keep your phone charged
- have three days worth of food and water ready
- have a battery radio
- if you have medical devices at home, consider having a generator
Milner advises that people sign up for PG&E alerts in their area to stay up to date.
The outage could last through Saturday.
