California utility company shuts off power in 20 counties (ASL – 10.10.19)

Transcript

Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), the largest utility in California, has purposely turned off power in more than twenty counties as an effort to avoid igniting a wildfire.

The blackout could last up to a week in some areas.

Hundreds of thousands of California residents are in the dark and many are fuming.

Among the affected areas is Santa Clara County, where a local state of emergency is declared.

Officials are urging people to stay at home as much as possible during the power shut off.

Forecasters say the state’s extreme wind and the dry vegetation make it vulnerable for a wildfire.

PG&E hopes this outage will prevent another one from starting.

The utility company agreed to pay billions of dollars for last year’s fatal Camp fire when it was determined its equipment was linked to the blaze.

Some residents are apparently taking out their frustration on the utility company.

A PG&E truck was struck by a bullet Tuesday and a customer service center was egged Wednesday.

No injuries were reported.

PG&E officials say the company understands the stressful impact of its shutdown and is working as fast as it can.

Once the weather conditions improve, the company says it will inspect its equipment before bringing the power back on.

And PG&E tweeted that it’s experiencing a high amount of traffic on its website and says its team is working as quick as it can to restore access.

The Closed Caption version of this video can be found here:
https://sign1news.com/2019/10/10/sign1news-10-10-19/

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