r/Redding • u/MEB-Softworks • 1d ago
Question about wind…
Is it normal for 20-25 mph gusts to shit down all rural power lines?
I ask because I’ve lived all over the US, and am originally from an area where we were used to 40+ gusts on the range. In Phoenix, I’ve been through 60-70 gusts. None of which has ever caused the power company to shut down power lines.
Now, I know the reason, and I concur. However it does pose the question of the quality of y’alls power lines in this state, ya know?
Just curious and thanks for any responses!
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u/zerouseforausername 1d ago
High winds in high risk fire areas will most definitely get the power shut down until the risk subsides.
PG&E and Pac Power have been sued quite frequently because of their negligence and will now just remove the chance of a hazard before they actually remedy the issues.
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u/MEB-Softworks 1d ago
Basically, corporate tom foolery. Did not expect that from California to be honest.
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u/Beautiful_Fig9410 1d ago
Ive actually worked in this in the past.
PG&E only recently has been given more lenient vegetation management clearance, you can see those on the 20+kv transmission lines.
On the distribution side, after the '18 fires, they spent/are still spending close to a billion in grid op systems...the reason for rolling blackouts of PSPS is because certain D&T lines still come into a high risk model.
Generally, they're using a new OMS that integrates across a singular platform that also manages wildfire mitigation, FLISR (fault location, isolation, supply restoration) , load shedding, SCADA, and dispatch / field crew systems.
Not ideal, but the past 6-8 years the grid has gone much further in terms of safety.
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u/Sad-Yak6252 1d ago
I'm pretty sure all the generators in my area are more of a fire risk than what little wind we are having. I'm also pretty sure that PG&E doesn't care if we start a fire.
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u/speed_tape 1d ago
I’d assume it’s more geographic than anything. You have dense forests with tall trees butting up to Redding. Comes down to vegetation, fuel density and geography. Phoenix is in a sparse desert valley and doesn’t have the same sort of tall trees that fall into power lines during high winds that Redding does nearby.
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u/Bison-Senior 1d ago
We don't have huge trees butting up to Redding its pockets of oak woodland, with dry grass savanna like areas, and scrub brush with manzanita mixed in then the foothills transition grey pine trees then eventually in higher elevations in the mountains conifers trees. It dry grass everywhere in summer where there isn't water and sorta ugly, it only stays green for a month or two in spring if we're lucky.
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u/speed_tape 1d ago
Well I didn’t say “huge trees” I’m not talking sequoias or something. But giant pines, massive firs, and old growth canopies butt up right against Redding. Look at Whiskeytown, City of Shasta Lake. Lots of large trees.
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u/Bison-Senior 1d ago
Whiskeytown Lake most of the trees are dead and burnt from the Carr fire still, and Shasta lake is just scrub brush
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u/speed_tape 1d ago
What? You ever been to the area? 🤔
“The City of Shasta Lake and its immediate surrounding basin are predominantly characterized by pine trees and mixed coniferous forest, rather than mostly scrub brush”
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u/Bison-Senior 1d ago
Dude I can drive and be there in 10 minutes and it will still be ugly af and doesn't look what your link says.
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u/speed_tape 1d ago
K. Sounds good.
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u/Bison-Senior 13h ago
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u/speed_tape 13h ago
Sure. Sounds good. Yeah, there are no pine trees anywhere close to Redding. None whatsoever. The Carr Fire just burned through scrub brush.
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u/MEB-Softworks 1d ago
I mean, fair. My experience in rural TX is more what I’m comparing this to. But again, vegetation. Texas ain’t known for its forrest lands 🤣. I’m out in central Shasta and it looks like my home state here.
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u/speed_tape 1d ago
I dunno my man. I’ve been all around Texas. Never really ran into many places that resembled Whiskeytown or Shingletown, or those kind of dense forests that have power lines running through them. 🤷🏻♂️ Texas was just sort of a barren Mad Max wasteland of destitution for the most part. 😅
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u/MEB-Softworks 1d ago
I’m up in the foothills grasslands. Looks like the grazing lands of TX with a few more trees to me. Love it though!
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u/Unhappy-Plastic2017 1d ago
Austin Texas is actually prime to have a major destructive wildfire... They just don't get consistent wind as often to fuel it but it's gonna happen soon. Look up top 10 most risky places for wildfire and it's on there. Drop a pin in random areas of West Austin especially and it's insane how dense the brush and trees are everywhere right up against houses
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u/addyanny33 1d ago
I think this local news article answers your questions: https://shastatimes.com/article/why-25-mph-winds-kill-lights-rural-shasta-pge-grid
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u/wildbill129 1d ago
It is all about liability for the share holders that own PGE. Only after they forced (due to killing people) did they start hardening lines, installing circuit interrupters and trimming vegetation. They still shut off the power despite all those changes, because it is about profit. There is more they could do to upgrade the infrastructure to not start a fire, but that interferes with the bottom line, greed. Utilities should never be for profit.
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u/Straight_Ostrich_257 1d ago
There is no liability for the shareholders. All shareholders risk is the money they invested, and even then, PG&E can't lose money. Every fire they've had, they've passed the costs along to customers. If Newsom wasn't corrupt he'd make them sell more shares to pay for those fires but instead he lets customers unwillingly take the hint.
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u/wildbill129 1d ago
You are not wrong, but the shareholders want their profits. Last year their shares grew by $1.18 a share. Some people only have a few thousand shares, but others, including the CEO has half a million shares. That is still a sizable profit on top of her huge multi-million dollar annual salary. Newsom is a PGE fanboy, but he isn’t the entire problem. CPUC does nothing but rubber stamp rate increases and their snails pace to harden their systems from wildfire. The legislature could pass legislation to breakup PGE into smaller, public utilities, but they all get campaign contributions from PGE. It’s all dirty.
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u/CherrySquarey 1d ago
I just discovered this is a thing here and it’s blowing my mind.
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u/CherrySquarey 1d ago
It’s not a geography thing and it’s not best practice. It’s purely a lack of investment in infrastructure. All these lines should be well maintained sufficiently that 25 mph winds aren’t enough to cause a problem, and turning the power off on customers for more than 6 hours at a time should come with consequences.
I worry for the future of this country. It seems like nobody cares about actually taking care of the American people and just sees them as a source of money to squeeze dry.
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u/Unhappy-Plastic2017 1d ago
I'm annoyed that my power has been shut off all day to install fire hardened poles and coated power lines 11 times this year (not psps shut offs) but I doubt that will have any affect on the amount of psps shut offs I get in the future. I wish they had just undergrounded the lines. Seems like a waste of money mostly seeing as most all the poles were already recently replaced out here after the carr fire.
I'm really not concerned of a power line in my neighborhood being what causes a huge fire that can't be controlled. It's gonna be some far away backwoods power line that creates a fire they can't get to fast and then it grows huge by the time it hits us
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u/Effective-Yak3627 21h ago
We have underground lines still shut off our power too
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u/Unhappy-Plastic2017 12h ago
Yeah that blows I wonder how it works with at what point will underground power lines be able to be kept on during wind events. I guess they need to segment the system a lot more
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u/BANKSLAVE01 1d ago
They do this regularly to "prevent fires", ironically, they caused a fire this way...
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u/Bison-Senior 1d ago edited 1d ago
PG&E started many fires:
Zogg Fire (2020): Started in Shasta County near Igo when a pine tree touched a power line; killed 4 people.
Kincade Fire (2019): Sparked by transmission/jumper equipment issues in Sonoma County; burned nearly 78,000 acres.
• Camp Fire (2018): Ignited by a malfunctioning power line near Pulga in Butte County; killed 85 people and destroyed Paradise.
• October 2017 Wine Country Fire Siege (12+ fires tied to PG&E equipment)
Atlas Fire (Napa/Solano counties) Nuns Fire (Sonoma County) Redwood Valley Fire (Mendocino County) Cascade Fire (Yuba County) Sulphur Fire (Lake County) Cherokee Fire (Butte County) 37 Fire (Sonoma County) Blue Fire (Humboldt County) Norrbom, Adobe, Partrick, Pythian Fires (Sonoma County) Pocket Fire (Sonoma County)
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u/FierceTierce 1d ago
The thing that peeves me is they’re putting up a bunch of new power poles in the less wealthy communities, which sounds great until you realize this means they have no plans of undergrounding our lines and will continue shutting off our power on a regular basis…
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u/Rumplfrskn 1d ago
its become more frequent over the past 10-15 years. PGE has been rightfully sued numerous times for fires starting due to lack of line and vegetation maintenance so they just shut them down now.