Additional reporting by Steven Zheng
Many Californians were left without power when PG&E initiated several public safety power shutoffs in response to the fire risk posed by windy conditions. The outages occurred periodically throughout October and affected over 1.3 million people in the Bay Area.
Junior Alexandra Tonas was affected by the shutoffs and believes the precaution was unnecessary.
“There’s never been a risk [for fire] in our area,” Tonas said. “It was actually less windy than it usually is during the time when the power was out. The entire time my mom and I were like, ‘where’s the wind?’”
Typically, customers in higher elevations were affected by the outages.
In response to lost power, senior Joey Williams completed schoolwork in the San Mateo Public Library.
“The [library] was a godsend,” Williams said, “but I didn’t want to have to do that. I shouldn’t have to have to do that. I understand the argument for turning off the power because it’s a general safety precaution … because it’s the wildfire season and everything, [but] it was inconvenient, and especially in the fact that it was the weekend before Early Action deadlines. It was really upsetting and really frustrating.”
Sophomore Jamila Zhao also had difficulty completing work during the outage.
“I didn’t get to do my homework so I was really behind,” Zhao said. “My grades went down because I missed a lot of assignments. I was also sick because it was really cold and there’s no heat, so I got sick [and] I had to miss a day at school.”
Several major fires continue to burn across California as a result of windy and dry conditions. The Kincade fire, which began Oct. 23, may have been caused by a broken PG&E transmission line.
Math teacher Adam Jacobs, who was also affected by the shutoffs, no longer trusts PG&E due to their lack of preparedness.
“The fact that they’re turning off power just shows me that they’re not prepared for these kinds of situations,” Jacobs said. “Moving forward, they need to be better prepared, so they don’t have to affect hundreds of thousands of people’s lives, and cost people a lot of money and inconvenience.”
While senior Trevor Johnson effectively coped with the outages, he hopes to force PG&E to correct the way in which they deal with risks for natural disasters.
“I really am wary of allowing things like this to continue happening,” Johnson said. “I’ll be 18 for the presidential election and personally, I hope that I can vote for Bernie Sanders. By voting, especially for Bernie, I hope that his restrictions on corporations will force companies [like PG&E] to be held responsible for their actions and hopefully force actual change.”
Freshman Shreya Arjun thinks PG&E should respond more effectively.
“[Power lines] do start fires and yes, [the power shutoff] is preventing it,” Arjun said, “but they need to do more than that. I’m not really mad about it because it didn’t affect me that much, but it definitely affects other people more than you think … [For example], people with disabilities who rely on heart monitors need power.”
Principal Patricia Kurtz believes a variety of people must work together in order to solve this issue.
“You’ve got PG&E, you’ve got communities like Sonoma and the areas up in Napa, [and] you need to get together with firefighters to say what they think [PG&E] should do,” Kurtz said. “I would say a lot of people need to come to the table to talk about this, because it’s becoming a major issue. I think [the San Francisco Chronicle] commented that the new normal for October now is smoke and fires.”
