PG&E Contractors Inspecting Power Poles In Sonoma County

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — PG&E confirmed Tuesday that as part of its Community Wildfire Safety Program, crews contracted by the utility company are inspecting thousands of distribution poles in parts of Sonoma County that have been identified by the California Public Utilities Commission as high fire-threat areas.

The contracted workers are wearing safety vests — most likely orange and yellow in color — and are carrying photo ID cards, according to Deanna Contreras, spokeswoman for PG&E in Sonoma County. The contracted inspectors can further be identified by placards on the dashboards of their vehicles, Contreras said.

The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office also issued a statement Tuesday about the inspections.

"We have received some calls of suspicious people/companies coming onto property and looking at utility poles," sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Crum said Tuesday morning. "We wanted everyone to know that we've looked into it and found that ... These contractors and companies may be from out of state but all will have been issued a picture ID by PG&E. They are asking for permission to access property to inspect their lines and repair any potential problems. They will not be doing any work in your house. If anyone asks to come into your home, call us right away."

According to PG&E:

As part of Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s (PG&E) enhanced wildfire safety efforts, implemented following the 2017 and 2018 wildfires as additional precautionary measures intended to further reduce wildfire risk, the company is conducting accelerated safety inspections of electric infrastructure in areas at higher risk of wildfire, including in portions of Sonoma County. This work is being done as part of PG&E’s Community Wildfire Safety Program and is in addition to the company’s routine inspections and maintenance programs.

The inspections will include approximately 685,000 distribution poles across more than 25,200 line miles and approximately 50,000 transmission structures across more than 5,500 line miles in high fire-threat areas. In addition to ground inspections, PG&E will use aerial imagery captured by helicopters and, in some cases, drones to further complement and enhance the visual inspections.

These accelerated inspections began last year on transmission structures and are now underway for distribution poles. Please note inspections will depend on weather, access and other factors.

These safety inspections are taking place across PG&E’s service area in locations that have been designated as at elevated or extreme risk of wildfire based on the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) High Fire-Threat District Map. If any issues are identified as a risk to public safety, PG&E will take action to address them right away.

Additional information for anyone wanting to learn more is available at Pge.com/wildfireinspections.