The National Weather Service has forecast high heat and winds beginning Friday, Sept. 9, which may result in extreme risk of fire danger and unplanned outages in both Consumers Power Inc. and Pacific Power service territories throughout Linn County.
The agency’s forecast covers the Highway 20 corridor east of Sweet Home through the Willamette National Forest; areas of Lacomb and Snow Peak and areas north and east of Scio; through Lyons, Mehama, Mill City, Gates, Detroit, Idanha and Marion Forks.
Both utility companies are taking preventative measures to mitigate the risks and may, as a last resort, execute a public safety power shutoff (PSPS) in high-risk areas. Should an outage occur, it could take between 12 and 48 hours (or longer) to restore power to all customers.
Linn County residents likely to be affected by these outages are encouraged to assess and prepare for loss of power to medical devices, food preparation capabilities, refrigeration/freezer needs and cooling during the high heat and wind forecast. Also, store drinking water.
Linn County Sheriff Michelle Duncan and her staff are in communication with area emergency response teams, utility and service industries, and assessing the safety of all residents. More information will be posted through social media, news outlets and emergency broadcasting.
CPI customers may find more information online at cpi.coop or by calling 1-800-872-9036. Pacific Power customers are encouraged to call 1-888-221-7070.