PG&E Offers Safety Tips for Upcoming High Wind Advisory Storm

A strong wind storm is being forecasted beginning at 10 a.m. tomorrow (Tuesday) and lasting through 10 a.m. Wednesday. Winds will reach 20 to 30 MPH with gusts up to 45 mph.

The following alert was provided by the National Weather Service:

A FAST MOVING...COLD...AND DRY STORM SYSTEM WILL SWEEP THROUGH
THE AREA LATE TONIGHT AND TUESDAY MORNING. STRONG AND GUSTY NORTH
TO NORTHEAST WINDS WILL DEVELOP BEGINNING TUESDAY MORNING THROUGH
MIDDAY WEDNESDAY. STRONGEST WINDS ARE EXPECTED IN THE HILLS OF THE
NORTH AND EAST BAY. THE TIME PERIOD OF STRONGEST WINDS WILL BE
BETWEEN LATE TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND LATE TUESDAY NIGHT. WINDS WILL
GRADUALLY SUBSIDE ON WEDNESDAY.

PG&E crews have been fully alerted and will be deployed to help restore any outages as soon as possible.

If you hear of any concerns – feel free to call our main line at 1.800.743.5000

Here are some Safety Tips for all customers, feel free to share. Also, take a look around your home or business to ensure all that needs to be secured, is:

• Customers can call our 24-hour Outage Service Line at 1-800-743-5002 to report an outage, to report a hazardous condition or to get the latest information on outages in their community.

• Assume downed power lines are energized and extremely dangerous.  Do not touch or try to move them — and keep children and animals away.  Report downed power lines immediately by calling 911 and PG&E at 1-800-743-5002.

• Do not use candles because of the risk of fire. If you must use candles, use extreme caution. Do not use candles near drapes, under lampshades or near holiday trees. Keep candles away from small children, and do not leave candles unattended.

• If your power goes out, turn off or unplug all electric appliances; otherwise, several appliances may come back on at once and overload your circuits when power is restored. Hot appliances also pose a fire hazard if they come back on while you’re away or asleep. Leave a single lamp on to alert you when power returns. Turn your appliances back on one at a time when conditions return to normal.

• Have battery-operated radios with fresh batteries ready for updates on storm conditions and power outages.

• Have battery-operated flashlights with fresh batteries on hand.

• Have a cell phone or hard-wire, single-line telephone on hand. Cordless phones will not work without electricity.

• Fill used liter-size plastic soda bottles with water and place them in the freezer. During an extended outage, transfer them to your refrigerator to prevent food from spoiling. Open the refrigerator only when necessary to keep warm air out and cooler air in.

• If you have a generator, inform PG&E and do not use it unless it is installed safely and properly. If it is not, you risk damaging your property and endangering yourself and PG&E line workers who may be working on nearby power lines. Information on the safe installation of generators can be found on our website at http://www.pge.com/generator.

Stay safe and our best,

Alicia Bert, Roxanne Cruz, Tom Guarino