City leaders host community meeting on how to prepare for public safety power outage

People across California are already feeling the impacts of public safety power shutoffs.

After PG & E shut power off for hundreds of thousands of people in northern California last week, Fred Angleton of Santa Maria is feeling nervous.

“I’m just concerned about the power outages that may occur because of the fire season,” Angleton said.

During an informational meeting, PG & E representatives shared how last week’s power outage went, and what they plan to work on for the next power outage.

“Our communications were lacking. Our computer interface was lacking. Those are things we are working on to improve,” said a representative of PG & E.

The utility company talked about its power shutoff program and how it decides to cut power based on several factors including heat, humidity, wind, and more.

The state’s Office of Emergency Management officials explained ways in which people can prepare for a power shutoff.

“The public should prepare for a power outage just like any emergency. So they want to be ready to communicate with their family. Have a plan for that. Have an emergency preparedness kit,” said director Kelly Hubbard of the Office of Emergency Management.

Representatives from Santa Barbara County Public Works explained how to be safe while driving during a power outage.

“After a couple hours, signal lights will turn off. So drivers should treat it like a four-way intersection,” said director Scott McGolpin of Santa Barbara County Public Works.

Emergency management officials encourage everyone to prepare for outages that could last five days.

KEYT 2019