With Humboldt County’s impending blackout looming, the county Office of Emergency Services is urging residents to stock up on enough medical supplies to last at least a few days and officials are scurrying to set up medical device charging stations throughout the county. The entirety of Humboldt County is expected to lose power Saturday afternoon […]
blackout
Posted inNews
Alert: Humboldt Will Lose Power, Possibly for Four Days
The Humboldt County Office of Emergency Services has issued a countywide alert warning that all PG&E customers in the county will lose power early tomorrow afternoon due to the Public Safety Power Shutoff being enacted in the face of severe fire conditions in portions of Humboldt County and surrounding areas. The office is urging residents […]
Posted inNews
Amid ‘Frustration’ with Lack of Information, Officials Warn Everyone Should Prepare for Blackout (with Preparedness Checklist)
Humboldt County officials are hoping to get some clarity this morning on what they should expect from the PG&E Public Safety Power Shutoff that the company has warned may impact the entirety of the county beginning Saturday evening. As with the shutoffs that left the county dark for 28 hours on Oct. 8 and Oct. […]
Posted inNews
UPDATE: OES Warns Entirety of Humboldt May Go Dark Saturday
UPDATE: The Humboldt County Office of Emergency Services is now advising that the entirety of Humboldt County is considered “in scope” for the PG&E blackout slated to begin Saturday night and all residents should be prepared to be without electricity for days. According to OES, PG&E’s prior advisories that only 2,188 customers would be affected […]
Posted inNews
UPDATE: Humboldt Expected to be Impacted by PG&E Blackout Saturday
UPDATE: The Humboldt County Office of Emergency Services is warning that PG&E currently expects 2,188 Humboldt County customers to lose power Saturday night as a result of local fire conditions. The office says it does not yet have more information about where the outages will be, when the power will be cut or how long […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Energy Literacy
Perhaps the biggest breakdown in the recent power shutoff was communication. As I write this, the California Public Utilities Commission has convened an emergency meeting with Pacific Gas & Electric Co. about the blackout. High among the commissioners’ concerns are PG&E’s communication failures to local governments, state agencies and customers during this event. As important […]
Posted inNews
Humboldt Not Currently Included in PG&E Outage Warning
PG&E is warning of another round of Public Safety Power Shutoffs due to expected dry and windy conditions Wednesday and Thursday, but does not include Humboldt County on its list. In a Facebook post, the Humboldt County Office of Emergency Services acknowledges the “healthy skepticism” local residents may have about the company’s announcement “since we […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Forewarned
Ignorance is no longer an excuse, if it ever was. In the wake of the PG&E blackout that darkened Humboldt County for some 28 hours last week, two things should be abundantly clear: The bankrupt power company is not going to be a reliable community partner going forward and we as a community are woefully […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Blackouts and Tokage Fees
When darkness cast its PG&E-sized cloud over Humboldt County on Oct. 9, some among us were not willing to go quietly into the night. “Even though the lights aren’t lit, that doesn’t mean you can’t be,” pronounced Ray Markland, company manager at EcoCann dispensary in Old Town as his staff worked to open the shop […]
Posted inNews
BLACKOUT
It was 5:22 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 8, when Dorie Lanni’s cell phone rang. It had already been a hectic 36 hours for Lanni, the county’s emergency services manager tasked with running the three-person office that coordinates major emergency responses in Humboldt County. The prior Sunday, she’d joined a 6 p.m. conference call hastily assembled […]
Posted inEat + Drink
Humboldt’s Food Business Meltdown
Shortly after 2 a.m. on Oct. 10, employees at both branches of the North Coast Co-op were doing what nobody wants to do: throwing out food. Some worked 12-hour shifts through the evening, pouring out milk, throwing out cheese and tofu, hauling legs of lamb, ox tails and cartons of eggs to the Dumpsters out […]
Posted inNews
UPDATE: Humboldt County is Fully Re-Powered
FOURTH UPDATE: The power may be back on but the outage took its toll on perishable food in refrigerators across the region. The county Department of Health and Human Services wants CalFresh recipients to know they can apply to have those losses replaced by phoning the call center at (877) 410-8809 or going into the […]