East Fork firefighters break down a portable Wi-Fi emitter in front of the Genoa Volunteer Fire Department on Aug. 19. Last year there was only one public safety outage in Carson Valley due to weather.
Carson Valley has yet to see a red flag warning for critical fire danger yet this season, but hot windy weather has been easing north and east.
It’s only a matter of time before weather conditions arrive in Western Nevada that prompt forecasters to warn residents against creating sparks.
Along the western portion of Douglas County, that may also result in electrical outages designed to keep power infrastructure from setting fires on blustery days.
Last year saw a couple of warnings that NV Energy would conduct a public safety outage and one actual outage that affected a handful of customers north of Genoa.
The Genoa Town Board is scheduled to hear an update on the outages in preparation for this year’s fire season.
NV Energy has been conducting open houses at Stateline and Gardnerville in May to discuss how the outages will affect different communities along the base of the Sierra.
Last year, in anticipation of an Aug. 17, outage, the power company brought a trailer full of ice, a means to charge cell phones and a portable cell tower to provide Wi-Fi.
On that day, the power company issued robocalls to alert residents that the lights might go out.
Because power crews have to inspect lines after the wind stops, the outages can last beyond the time covered by any warning issued by the National Weather Service.
Power infrastructure has been cited as a cause of the fatal fires at Paradise in 2018 and Walker in November 2020.
Comments
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.
Sign in to comment