Placer County services limited during power shutoff
AUBURN, Calif. — Many Placer County offices in the Auburn and foothills are operating at a reduced level of service today due to the planned Pacific Gas and Electric Company Public Safety Power Shutoff.
Power was restored at 5:20 a.m. to some county facilities in the Placer County Government Center, which is fed by underground electricity and more easily restored.
The area was identified by PG&E as a priority for power restoration because the Auburn Justice Center and the Auburn Jail are located in the government center.
The Justice Center facility provides offices for the Placer County Sheriff's Office, Coroner's Office, Probation and the District Attorney – Juvenile Division.
"We feel fortunate to have power restored to some of our county offices, especially that the Sheriff's Office has full commercial power," said Placer County Executive Officer Todd Leopold.
"We are redirecting some of our employees to report to work at our open facilities in order to maintain services to the extent possible."
Outages approaching 40 percent of county residents
Approximately 150,000 people are currently without power in the county today due to the PG&E power shutoff that was called for because of an increased fire risk.
Placer County offices in Roseville, Rocklin and North Lake Tahoe did not lose power and service levels there remain normal.
A red flag warning has been in effect since 5 a.m. this morning and is expected to remain in place until 5 p.m. tomorrow. CAL FIRE and Placer County Fire are operational under generator power.
"We are prepared to operate on generator power as long as necessary and we have increased staff to support the red flag event that is currently in place," said Nevada Yuba Placer Unit's West Division Assistant Chief Jim Hudson. "We have also increased the number of engines and water tenders as a precautionary measure."
Auburn Transit and Placer County Transit remain fully operational including dial-a-ride services.
Pioneer Community Energy continues to work with PG&E to manage its electric load in light of the outage.
The following Placer County libraries and museums will be closed until power is restored:
Libraries:
• Auburn
• Applegate
• Colfax
• Forest Hill
• Penryn
Granite Bay and Rocklin libraries will remain open unless PG&E Public Safety Power Shutoff conditions change.
Museums:
• DeWitt History Museum
• Griffith Quarry Museum
• Gold Rush Museum
• Foresthill Divide Museum
• Bernhard Museum Complex
The Placer County Courthouse Museum in Auburn is the only museum open today.
The Placer County Emergency Operations Center will remain activated during the duration of the power shutoff event to assist county departments and partner agencies with response to community needs.
Most traffic signals in the impacted areas of the county are in flashing red status. Drivers should treat dark or flashing red signals as four-way stops and proceed with caution.
The county is also staffing a public information line from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to answer non-emergency calls related to county services at 530-886-5310. Updates about county services and local shutoff information will be kept up-to-date on the county's website at readyplacer.org.
PG&E has set up a Community Resource Center at the Gold Country Fairgrounds in Auburn to provide charging stations for mobile devices and medical equipment. The air-conditioned center will provide water and will be staffed by PG&E representatives.
Affected PG&E customers are encouraged to continue to stay tuned to PG&E's power shutoff website, pge.com/psps, for the latest power shutoff updates and timeline for power restoration.