California public safety power shutdowns

Thu Oct 10 05:51:43 UTC 2019

On Wed, Oct 9, 2019, at 22:26, Sean Donelan wrote:

> - Will this affect cellphone service?
> 
> Generally no because this is a power shutoff, without other disaster 
> damage.  All major switching offices have backup generators for 24 
> to 72 hours and nearly all cell towers and outside plant have backup 
> batteries for 4 to 8 hours and/or backup generators.  Service providers 
> should be able to re-charge batteries and refill generator tanks 
> throughout the power shut-off.  Of course, if there is some other disaster 
> during this time, there would be less resiliance in the network.

In a Previous e-mail:

>  Public Safety Power Shut-offs (PSPS) in California wildfire high-risk areas.

So, during a Power shut-off because of wild*fire* risk, operators are supposed to be able to re-charge batteries and supply generators with fuel (I suppose diesel, regular gas being even worse) in the affected areas ? Did I understand things wrong ?

I don't have an issue with shutting down power preventively in order to reduce an already high risk, but pretending that other people will keep their electricity-dependent equipment up, especially by providing flamable stuff - isn't this a huge WTF ?