FRESNO (KMJ) — Crews working on behalf of PG&E are now at work across the Central Valley, to make sure errant tree-branches are taken care of before they cause a power outage.
“So this week especially, we’ve increased patrols looking for hazard trees,” reveals the energy company’s Denny Boyles. “Essentially to remove the risk of a wire coming down, which is a huge safety risk for the public.”
The work is being done ahead of bad weather predicted to hit the local area on Friday, bringing heavy rain and potentially thunderstorms too.
“One of our main concerns, especially during a storm, is if a power line comes down…you have to treat every line on the ground as if it’s live, you have to stay away. Call 911 then call PG&E and we’ll send someone out.”
The number to do so is 1800-743-5000, which is also the same number to call for a crew to come out and cut branches getting too close to power lines.
“Something we saw this last week, with really high winds, it can actually move the lines and they’ll come into contact with each other and cause an outage. You can have a branch or an entire tree come down on a line”, adds Boyles.
“That’s something we look for during our inspections to make sure the tree’s not growing into the line or doesn’t have that normal potential to bend into the line during a storm.”
PG&E manages 147 million trees, throughout its 70,000 square mile service area.
Hear the report from KMJ’s Dominic McAndrew as it aired:
