That network has helped reduce the size of each public safety power shutoff, or PSPS, event in 2020 on average by 55 percent, or more than 800,000 customers, PG&E spokesperson Deanna Contreras told Lake County News.
Last year, far fewer Lake County residents were involved in PSPS events when compared to late 2019; at one point during that time, the entire county was out for nearly a week.
In 2020, PG&E installed 400 new weather stations and 216 HD cameras as part of its Community Wildfire Safety Program.
These high-tech tools provide better situational awareness and more precise weather monitoring and forecasting that allow for more precision in determining where a PSPS is needed, the company reported.
As of the end of 2020, PG&E had 1,000 weather stations and 340 cameras in operation throughout Northern and Central California, providing more precise weather data to the company’s team of meteorologists and outside agencies, the company reported.
Contreras said more than 30 of those weather stations and seven cameras are in Lake County.
“We did expand our network in 2020 with several additions in Lake County,” Contreras said.
She said 12 weather stations were installed in 2020 in Lake County, with the last one being placed in October.
The stations allow PG&E to more accurately pinpoint conditions with microlocal forecasting. Contreras said they are able to use the data right away and eliminate an area from PSPS scope.
“As a real-time situational awareness tool, we’re able to use our high-density weather observation network at the start of a PSPS event to assess if forecasted critical fire weather conditions are materializing or not,” explainedAshley Helmetag, PG&E senior meteorologist. “In a PSPS event, if the conditions are not materializing above risk thresholds, then we’re able to use this data as a one of our decision-making support tools to significantly shrink or eliminate an area that was originally in scope for power shut off.”
In addition to PG&E’s in-house meteorology team, the expert staff in the company’s Wildfire Safety Operations Center rely on this real-time information, as well as outside agencies and first-responders as they make critical decisions during wildfire season.
PG&E has been adding to its network of weather stations and cameras since 2018, mostly in high fire-threat areas in Northern and Central California.
The program, which plans to install 1,300 weather stations by the end of 2021, is designed to create a density of roughly one weather station for every 20 miles of electric lines in high fire-threat areas.
By the end of 2022, PG&E plans to have nearly 600 cameras installed. When complete, PG&E expects to have the ability to see in real-time roughly 90 percent of the high fire-risk areas it serves.
The stations provide temperature, wind speed and humidity data that is monitored, tracked and evaluated by PG&E’s meteorology team and analysts in the WSOC.
The WSOC is the hub from which PG&E detects, evaluates and monitors wildfire threats across its service area. It’s also where the company instigates responses to those threats and a center for coordination with first responders and public safety officials.
Weather station observations are available to state and local agencies as well as the public, through PG&E’s website at www.pge.com/weather and through MesoWest.
The WSOC staff also use PG&E’s network of fire-watch cameras to monitor and respond to wildfires. These resources are also available to Cal Fire and other fire agencies, as needed.
You can see the data from the weather stations on www.pge.com/weather and the live pictures from the cameras through the Alert Wildfire Network at http://www.alertwildfire.org/northbay/index.html?v=7a7f1bd.
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PG&E reports on expanded network of weather stations, fire-watch cameras - Lake County News
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