PG&E is calling the outage [Sat 9:00pm - Sun 10:00am] a "system" outage. When the juice went out it was abrupt, no flicker or warning, and when it came on it was also abrupt. I thought that the feeder lines to this ridge were involved in the Bullard's Bar fire just to the south, but the PG&E update said the reason was "system". Any local utility workers got a clue they might be able to share?

mitch

-- Mitchell Barnes (spanda@inreach.com), October 17, 1999

Answers

Mitch, are your electronic appliances OK? Should a person unplug everything when the electricity goes out abruptly?

-- wondering (have@some.widgets), October 17, 1999.

Mitch, what was the exact area of the outage? (Wondering, since we're not there right now, if our propane generator ran for 12 or 13 hours straight..)

-- (snoozin@no.more), October 17, 1999.

Have no idea of the extent. Could see Berry Creek lights last night. Mooretown Ridge was out. Don't know how far towards Oroville it went. Haven't heard about Forbestown. Bullard's Bar, Dobbins, Camptonville evacuated. I was hoping some others from this region would help pin the area of outage.

mb

-- Mitchell Barnes (spanda@inreach.com), October 17, 1999.

If your power goes out abruptly, your appliances will be ok. If the lights in your home seem to be very dim, turn off your main breaker as fast as you can. This is a brown out. A brown out is LOW voltage. This can and will toast your stuff plugged into the utilities grid. If your power goes on and off rapidly, four time or more in 10 seconds, turn the breaker off as fast as you can also. This will cause a high voltage effect on the power system and toast you stuff on the utility grid also. This can be cause by a wire arching on and off due to a tap making and breaking as we call it. Good luck. Power companies do not pay damages due to act of God. Storms will be in this realm. But Y2K will not be concidered an act of God. File your claim if the system damages your appliances due to a verified Y2K distructive problem.

-- Cap (Powerlineman@power.com), October 17, 1999.

The power did not go off in Oroville, at least below Skyline blvd.

-- nana (nana2@nowhere.xcom), October 17, 1999.

Hey, Cap, and any others who might know- The description you gave of appliance damaging brownouts and the flickering power-can any of this be moderated by using good quality surge protectors, say on my TV and VCR plugs? How about major appliances? Appologize if this is a dumb question. Thanks for considering it anyway. Ive wondered about it for some time, but had noone to ask.

-- LauraA (Laadedah@aol.com), October 18, 1999.