Officials investigating Intermountain Area power outage that affected thousands

PG&E officials say they are investigating a power outage that they say affected thousands of customers throughout the Intermountain Area earlier today. Outages were reported from Fall River Mills to the east all the way to Montgomery Creek to the west.

Officials are still working to determine the cause of the outage, according to a PG&E public affairs officer, who said today’s power outage affected 2,541 customers.

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As summer temperatures climbed into the mid-90’s with humidity around 20 percent today, some area residents reported their power was off for several hours while other reported much shorter outages.

Within minutes of the outage shortly after 8 a.m., news of the situation spread across the Internet like a social media wildfire, with many area residents taking to community news reporting pages, such as Facebook’s “What’s really happening in Burney,” asking for information about the outage, its cause, what areas were affected, and how long the power was expected to remain off. At least two people reported hearing an explosion – possibly a power transformer – just before their power went off.

Some Internet users reported outages across Burney and neighboring Johnson Park, while others asked about being able to pick up prescriptions or discussed pulling out generators to run their fridges and air conditioners. Many shared information provided directly from PG&E via text using the company’s “Outage Alert” feature, which is free and can be signed up for online.

PG&E kept customers informed during this morning’s power outage via their “Outage Alert” texts, which are free and can be signed up for online.

Although PG&E reported to customers via text that power had been restored in two batches, beginning about 9:45 a.m., some area residents reported their power remaining off until around 11 a.m. As of this report, all power throughout the area had been restored.

PG&E says that no cause for the outage has been determined and officials are still investigating its cause.

 

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Trevor Montgomery, 47, recently moved to Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source and Shasta County News Source. Additionally, he writes for several other news organizations, including Riverside County based newspapers, Valley News, The Valley Chronicle and Anza Valley Outlook, as well as Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County and The Mountain Echo in Shasta County.

Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)

During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations, including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center and Lake Elsinore Station, along with other locations.