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- Written by: Lake County News reports
“COVID-19 continues to pose a severe risk and requires all Californians to follow necessary precautions to keep themselves and their communities safe,” said Dr. Erica Pan, acting state Public Health officer. “As a parent I know the difficulty of explaining the need to modify annual traditions because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and that’s why the Department of Public Health is highlighting low-risk ways families can celebrate these holidays. Our ability to protect lives and limit the spread of COVID-19 depends on all of us taking the virus seriously. Wear a face covering, maintain physical distance and limit mixing with people outside your household.”
The guidance strongly discourages traditional trick-or-treating and encourages families to plan safer alternatives.
Suggestions include a candy scavenger hunt at home, scheduling online activities like pumpkin carving and costume contests, and car-based tours of Halloween displays.
The guidance also covers Día de los Muertos, a Mexican tradition celebrated in the Latino community honoring the deceased.
Día de los Muertos celebrations often include gatherings of extended family as well as cemetery visits.
Families are encouraged to place traditional indoor alters outside so others can view them from a safe distance, create virtual altars online and keep cemetery visits short in duration and limited to people within the same household.
Families and individuals are also urged to check in with their counties so they are aware of any local guidance that applies to both holiday celebrations.
For more information about what Californians can do to prevent the spread of COVID-19, visit www.covid19.ca.gov.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Pacific Gas and Electric said Wednesday evening that it is going forward with a public safety power shutoff that will impact nearly 53,000 customers across portions of 24 counties, including Lake.
The PSPS is taking place in response to a high-wind event with low humidity and dry vegetation that could result in critical fire danger.
The company said 82 Lake County customers, five of them in the medical baseline program, will be included in the shutoff. Mapping shows those customers are located in the south county, around Cobb, Lower Lake and Middletown.
“This program is really all about safety,” said Mark Quinlan, PG&E’s PSPS incident commander, in a Wednesday evening briefing.
Quinlan said the PSPS program is meant to stop catastrophic wildland fires.
Customer notifications about the possibility of the PSPS began on Monday afternoon. PG&E reported late Wednesday afternoon that it had made the decision to move forward.
In the Wednesday evening online briefing, Quinlan said 33,000 customers in Butte, Lake, Napa, Nevada, Plumas, Shasta, Solano, Sonoma, Tehama, Yolo and Yuba counties are having their power turned off between 6 and 8 p.m.
Another 19,000 customers in Alameda, Amador, Calaveras, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Monterey, Nevada, Placer, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Sierra counties will have their power turned off from 8 to 10 p.m. Wednesday, Quinlan said.
On Thursday at 4 p.m., PG&E anticipates cutting off power to an additional 700 customers in Amador, Calaveras, Humboldt and Trinity counties.
The areas impacted by the PSPS are also under a red flag warning called by the National Weather Service.
Once the weather subsides on Friday morning, PG&E will patrol and inspect the de-energized lines to ensure they were not damaged during the wind event and repair any damage found. PG&E will then safely restore power in stages and as quickly as possible, with the goal of restoring power to nearly all customers within 12 daylight hours after severe weather has passed.
PG&E anticipates power will be restored to essentially all customers affected by the PSPS event who can receive service by 10 p.m. on Friday (Oct. 16), weather and safety permitting.
Infrastructure improvements implemented this year has allowed the company to make PSPS events smaller. PG&E said without those improvements another 12,750 customers would have been deenergized.
Once the weather all-clear is called, PG&E will begin damage inspections of power equipment in order to meet its goal of restoring power within 12 hours of the weather event ending.
The all-clear is expected to occur on Friday.
PG&E is opening 40 community resource centers in impacted communities. Thirty-seven opened on Wednesday with another three to open on Thursday. No centers have opened in Lake County, according to the company’s website.
More information about the PSPS is available here.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The red flag warning is in effect from noon on Wednesday until 11 a.m. Friday, the National Weather Service said.
The forecast calls for a high-pressure ridge that will build across the area from mid to late week, bringing warmer and drier conditions along with gusty offshore winds to higher elevations.
Forecasters said upper slope and ridgetop winds from the northeast to east are expected to range from 15 to 25 miles per hour, with locally higher gusts to 35 miles per hour. The strongest winds will occur around sunrise on Thursday. Humidity will be low during the day and night.
The Lake County forecast calls for daytime temperatures topping out in the high 90s into the weekend, when temperatures are expected to drop into the 80s and then into the 70s early next week. Nighttime temperatures will reach the 60s before dropping into the 50s at week’s end and the 40s in the new week.
PG&E began notifying customers on Monday of the potential for a public safety power shutoff, and on Tuesday night said that it’s expanded the scope of the potential shutoff area from portions of 21 to 24 counties, with a total of 54,000 customers in the area.
The number of Lake County residents that would be impacted rose from a previous estimate of 50 to 82, with five of them medical baseline customers, PG&E said.
A map of the proposed outage area shows that Lake County residents to be impacted are in the Lower Lake, Middletown and Cobb areas.
Officials said they will make the decision on Wednesday whether or not to go forward with the shutoff.
If the shutoff goes forward, PG&E said the majority of customers should have power restored by the end of the day on Friday.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The District Attorney’s Office reported that a Clearlake Oaks man has been convicted and sentenced to felony probation and jail time for setting a fire in June.
On Oct. 5, Joseph Edward Calia Jr., 28, was convicted of committing felony arson, said Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff.
According to investigation reports, sheriff’s deputies and Cal Fire Arson Investigator Joe Baldwin responded to a reported fire on June 23 at 2:10 a.m. on New Long Valley Road south of Pomo Trail near Clearlake Oaks.
Hinchcliff said Deputy Tony Bracisco contacted Calia, who admitted starting the fire. Calia stated that he had become involved in a verbal argument with his girlfriend and left the residence on foot in the dark and was walking on New Long Valley Road toward Highway 20.
Calia told investigators that while walking in the dark he saw something moving in the bushes and believed it was a mountain lion about to pounce on him. He told investigators at first he did not see the mountain lion, then stated he did see it.
He then used matches he had to start a fire on both sides of the road to scare the lion away and to create light so he could see, according to his statement to investigators.
Hinchcliff said Calia later told the same story to Baldwin, who determined the fire started where and in the manner described by Calia.
The fire was extinguished by Cal Fire and burned a little more than a quarter of an acre of brush, Hinchcliff said.
Hinchcliff said further investigation revealed that Calia suffered from some mental health issues and had no prior criminal convictions. He advised he was willing to participate in mental health treatment programs.
Hinchcliff prosecuted the case and Thomas Quinn was appointed to represent Calia.
Because of the mental health issues and lack of any criminal convictions, it was agreed that Calia would be placed on formal felony probation.
Calia pleaded to a felony violation of Penal Code 451(c), arson of forest land, and was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Andrew Blum on Oct. 5.
Hinchcliff said Calia was placed on three years’ formal probation, sentenced to 280 days jail and 80 hours work service, will be required to register as an arson offender for his lifetime, ordered not to possess any accelerants or items that can be used to start a fire and ordered to comply with orders of the Probation Department, including Behavioral Health counseling and treatment with mental health staff.