It's a new day

Thank you to all my Blip friends that have expressed concerns about the recent wildfires. The wind had quieted and we are safe and back home. 

Pacific Gas & Electric power lines have caused more than 1,500 California wildfires in the past six years. This fall, as low humidity and strong winds created fire-hazard conditions, PG&E cut power for days to nearly 2 million customers  to minimize risks that sparking wires could start more blazes.

Years and years of greed,  mismanagement, and budget cuts for maintenance and equipment upgrades have led to billions of dollars in legal claims associated with the  fires.  PG&E, owned by private investors,  has filed for bankruptcy. 

Gov. Gavin Newsom, one of the company's most vocal critics, said  "We will do everything in our power to restructure PG&E so it is a completely different entity when they get out of bankruptcy by June of next year.”

Better, newer equipment could make the grid more resilient such as,
moving wires underground in particularly fire-prone areas,
replacing aging hardware and upgrading infrastructure. Such upgrades include covering high-voltage wires with insulation to prevent sparks of molten metal from erupting when wires touch branches or slap together in high winds. It may take 10-years. We can't get started soon enough.