[sipherhex]

> The kicker is the winds never arrived.

Winds over 60mph on the ridges. https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/KCALOSGA177/graph...

We had 40+mph winds at our home all night. Based on previous experience the power would have gone out anyhow.

In the spring we had a tree take down the power line in front of the house and continue arcing. Thank goodness it was a day after rain and calm wind. On a night like this recent night, the mountain would have been ash.

For those that live in rural, fire-prone areas power outages are often fairly normal and the big danger is burning. If someone hears 4th of July fireworks being set off where I live there's a real risk of a vigilante mob. The tradeoff of power cuts seems reasonable.

There has been reporting that preventive power cuts are generally a good idea, but highly unpopular unless they are really targeted. This is what San Diego Gas & Electric learned: put in equipment to enable more targeted cuts and monitoring. I expect this is where PG&E will need to invest next.