Last week, several hundred PG & E customers in Atascadero lost power because of a shut-down to prevent wildfires.
Over the weekend, a dangerous windstorm in northern California forced PG & E to shut off power to about 360 thousand homes and businesses. Initially it was 500,000, but they scaled it back to 360 thousand. About 800,000 people were impacted over the weekend.
You may remember the Oakland Hills firestorm in 1991. It killed 25 people who could not escape the flames. It started on a Saturday morning, firefighters thought it was under control that night, but it re-ignited Sunday and spread rapidly. It was driven by Diablo winds gusting up to 65 miles per hour. It spread through the area near the Caldicott tunnel. That Sunday afternoon it blew up. It crossed highway 24 and highway 13. It destroyed 2800 homes and killed 25 people.
Ash fell on the field of Candlestick park where the 2-4 San Francisco 49ers were hosting the 5-1 Detroit Lions. That afternoon, the temperature reached 100 degrees on the playing field. Steve Young completed his first 16 passes. During the fire in the Oakland Hills, the 49ers beat the Lions 35-3. By nine that night, the wind abruptly stopped. That gave firefighters a chance to contain the fire, first responders were able to remove the bodies of those 25 people killed by the fire.
