FIRE DAMAGES ELECTRIC SYSTEM: SOME RESIDENTS COULD BE WITHOUT POWER FOR A WEEK OR MORE

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By Miriam Raftery

September 8, 2020 (San Diego’s East County) – The Valley Fire has damaged the electric system across numerous rural communities that may be without power for days. Some communities left sweltering without power since Sept. 5 may not have power restored until Sept. 15 in order to repair fire damage. An additional circuit sustained weather damage to equipment.

The prolonged outage includes some circuits in Alpine, Barrett Lake, Buckman Springs, Campo, Dehesa, Dulzura, Jamul, Lyons Valley, Morena Village,  Potrero, and Rancho Palo Verde. With the 17,000 acre wildfire still burning and Santa Ana winds forecast tonight, the outages imperil residents ability to receive emergency notifications, open electric garage doors to evacuate, or pump water to drink or fight spot fires, unless they own generators.

SDG&E has alerted customers and posted estimated dates of power restoration on its outage webpage at https://www.sdge.com/residential/customer-service/outage-center/outage-map. The communities and circuits impacted are listed below. You can find your circuit on your SDG&E bill.

OUTAGES IN THE VALLEY FIRE AREA

 

Communities Affected:

Dehesa/ Alpine/ Rancho Palo Verde

Circuit Affected: 1166

Customers Out: 89

Start Time: Sep 05 at 05:28 PM

Estimated Restoration: Sep 11 at 05:00 PM

Outage Cause: A fire has damaged the electric system.

 

Communities Affected:

Dehesa/ Alpine/ Rancho Palo Verde

Circuit Affected: 1166

Customers Out: 8

Start Time: Sep 05 at 05:28 PM

Estimated Restoration: Sep 11 at 05:00 PM

Outage Cause: A fire has damaged the electric system.

 

Communities Affected:

Dulzura/ Potrero/ Campo/ Jamul/ N Jamul/ Lyons Valley/ Lyons Valley/ Barrett Lake

Circuit Affected: 157

Customers Out: 1020

Start Time: Sep 05 at 03:55 PM

Estimated Restoration: Sep 15 at 05:00 PM

Outage Cause: A fire has damaged the electric system.

 

Communities Affected:

Dehesa/ Alpine/ Rancho Palo Verde/ Lyons Valley/ Barrett Lake

Circuit Affected: 524

Customers Out: 415

Start Time: Sep 05 at 07:58 PM

Estimated Restoration: Sep 15 at 05:00 PM

Outage Cause: A fire has damaged the electric system.

 

Communities Affected: Dulzura/ Potrero/ Campo/ Jamul/ N Jamul/ Lyons Valley/ Lyons Valley/ Barrett Lake

Circuit Affected: 67

Customers Out: 580

Start Time: Sep 06 at 12:21 PM

Estimated Restoration: Sep 15 at 05:00 PM

Outage Cause: Weather affected SDG&E equipment.

 

Communities Affected: Dehesa/ Alpine/ Rancho Palo Verde/ Japatul Valley/ Buckman Springs/ Morena Village

Circuit Affected: 73

Customers Out: 146

Start Time: Sep 05 at 03:20 PM

Estimated Restoration: Sep 11 at 05:00 PM

Outage Cause: A fire has damaged the electric system.

Miriam Raftery, editor and founder of East County Magazine, has over 35 years of journalism experience. She has won more than 350 journalism awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club, and the American Society of Journalists & Authors. Her honors include the Sol Price Award for responsible journalism and three James Julian awards for public interest reporting from SPJ’s San Diego chapter. She has received top honors for investigative journalism, multicultural reporting, coverage of immigrant and refugee issues, politics, breaking news and more. Thousands of her articles have appeared in national and regional publications.

East County Magazine gratefully acknowledges the Facebook Journalism Project for its COVID-19 Relief Fund grant to support our local news reporting including impacts on vulnerable communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn more: #FacebookJournalismProject and https://www.facebook.com/fbjournalismproject/.

You can donate to support our local journalism efforts during the pandemic at https://www.EastCountyMedia.org/donate.



 



 


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Comments

Power Outages and Water Well Pumping with Solar PV

Those dependent on SDG&E electricity to pump water from their well or water storage tank should consider solar electric power which is now cost effective. I don't have SDG&E power and use solar panels to pump my well water into a 10,000 gallon tank located higher up on my lot. No batteries are needed and the water is gravity fed to my house and landscaping without additional pumping when the sun is not out. I can also use a generator to power the same submersible pump but don't need too since the amount of water of produced is more than adequate with the additional water used to irrigate trees for shade and wind brakes. I use the Grundfos SQF brand pump that allows me to use AC or DC electricity. I just added a few more solar panels to increase my water output to meet my needs. Worth considering now that the cost of solar panels are now very affordable.

Power Outage

Good luck finding a generator and gas cans at The Depot or Harbor Freight, People who rely on a well for water may lose livestock, pets, and die from the heat and dehydration. 

Gas stations couldn't pump gas, cash registers won't work, food in freezers and refridgerators will spoil in hours or days. My fridge had ice cubes after a day without electricity, good insulation.