Page 6 - aruba-today-20190928

A6 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 28 September 2019
Outages to deter wildfires burden rural California counties

By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ with air conditioning, add-
Associated Press ing more police patrols to
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — direct traffic after street-
When California’s larg- lights go out and sending
est utility warned it would workers to check on those
cut power to thousands who are sick or immobile.
to prevent its equipment “Our response philosophy is
from starting wildfires dur- to ensure maximum and full
ing warm, windy weather, response immediately be-
officials in the wealthy wine cause we don’t know the
region of Sonoma County level and scope of what’s
sprang into action. going to happen,” Godley
They declared a state of said.
emergency and called up In Butte County, where
additional first responders 24,000 customers lost pow-
who could direct traffic or er twice this week, authori-
take vulnerable residents to ties ensured backup gener-
places with electricity. ators worked, had staffers
Nearly 200 miles (275 ki- ready in case they needed
lometers) north, officials In this Oct. 20, 2017, file photo Gordon Easter and finance Gail Hale embrace as they return to to check on vulnerable
in rural Butte County sim- their home on Hopper Lane in Coffey Park, in Santa Rosa, Calif. people and shared PG&E
ply posted Pacific Gas & Associated Press updates on social media.
Electric information online termined amount of time. have yet to decide how to problems were reported. They planned to rely on
about which neighbor- But the preventive outages distribute the money. In Sonoma County, PG&E two PG&E cooling centers.
hoods would be affected are proving to be a burden The outages are new for cut power to 700 people in “Our role is to make sure the
and what to do with perish- to smaller, poorer counties PG&E and Southern Califor- the Santa Rosa area, where information gets out there
able food. without resources to set up nia Edison, which together a massive blaze in October because it’s really PG&E’s
Both counties had com- places for people to cool provide power in 55 of Cali- 2017 killed 22 people and thing,” county spokeswom-
munities decimated in wild- off or mobilize staff to deal fornia’s 58 counties. The destroyed more than 5,000 an Miranda Bowersox said.
fires ignited by power lines with emergencies if outag- utilities and county officials homes. Lake County, home to just
in recent years. They face es stretch past two days. are working together to The county started plan- 60,000 people in the Sier-
the long-term prospect of “The outages are to avoid figure out their roles, but a ning for power outages ra foothills where wildfires
frequent power shutoffs an emergency and a fire lack of standards has led to shortly after regulators ap- in recent years killed four
during fire season as PG&E disaster, but there are no disparate responses. proved them in May, emer- people and burned hun-
and other utilities try to pre- resources that counties This week, PG&E shut off gency management direc- dreds of buildings, emer-
vent their equipment from can access to make sure power to more than 48,000 tor Chris Godley said. gency officials have spent
sparking blazes like the one that people are at a cool- customers in seven coun- “Just like we prepare for $500,000 buying and install-
last year that killed 85 peo- ing station or get the trans- ties in wine country and the an earthquake, or fire sea- ing generators that can
ple and nearly destroyed portation they need to get Sierra Nevada foothills as son, or flood season, we power police, fire, water
the Butte County town of there,” said Darby Thomas, the humidity plunged, tem- also prepared for the de- and sewage services.
Paradise. deputy executive director peratures rose and winds energization because if the It doesn’t have the resourc-
More populated, wealthier of the California State Asso- kicked up — a combination power will be out for more es to do much more than
counties have adapted ciation of Counties. that has fueled some of the than 48 hours, it’s really an ensure government build-
their emergency plans to California lawmakers this most destructive blazes in emergency for the com- ings are operating during
respond to the new reality year set aside $75 million to California history. munity,” he said. an outage, said Dale Car-
of thousands of residents prepare local governments The outages lasted less The county’s outage plan nathan, county emergen-
losing power for an unde- for the outages, but officials than a day, and no major calls for opening facilities cy services manager.q
City to pay Stormy Daniels

$450,000 over strip club arrest

rest at a strip club last year, The agreement was ten reprimand for a com-
the latest fallout traced to reached after media- mander. The city’s safety
the city’s now-disbanded tion Friday, with all parties director has the final say.
vice unit. agreeing the figure was fair The police union has called
Daniels’ federal defama- “given the facts and cir- the recommended disci-
tion complaint against sev- cumstances involved,” said pline excessive.
eral Columbus officers al- Meredith Tucker, a spokes- An internal police review
leged police conspired to woman for City Attorney determined Daniels’ ar-
retaliate against her over Zach Klein. rest was improper but not
her claims that she had sex The interim Columbus po- planned in advance or po-
with Donald Trump before lice chief recommended litically motivated.
he became president. this month that two officers Officers chose to obtain
In this Oct. 11, 2018, file photo, adult film actress Stormy Daniels She was arrested on sus- from the former vice unit be evidence for alleged illegal
attends the opening of the adult entertainment fair ‘Venus’ in picion of inappropriately fired for their roles in the un- touching of customers by
Berlin, Germany. touching an undercover dercover strip club opera- dancers “by placing them-
Associated Press officer following a perfor- tion that resulted in Daniels’ selves, unnecessarily, at risk
By ANDREW WELSH-HUG- Ohio’s capital city agreed mance at Sirens in July arrest. Chief Tom Quinlan and potential for physical
GINS Friday to pay porn actress 2018, but the city attorney’s also recommended sus- contact with Ms. Clifford,”
Associated Press Stormy Daniels $450,000 to office dropped charges pensions for a lieutenant the March report conclud-
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — settle a lawsuit over her ar- within hours. and sergeant, and a writ- ed. q