Utility work in Clovis foothills to cut power to residents on Friday

Electrical equipment that needs replacing in the Clovis foothills will cut off power to about 500 customers for three hours Friday morning.

PG&E reduced the planned outage by one hour as the high temperature is expected to hit triple digits, and air quality, clouded by forest fires, continues to be a hazard, keeping residents indoors. The high temperature on Friday is forecast to be 105 degrees in Clovis, according to the National Weather Service in Hanford.

Resident Don Drilling, who lives north of Sample Road, was concerned when he heard the power would originally be shut off between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. It has since been changed to end at noon.

“This is the foothill area where there are a lot of elderly people,” Drilling said.

“It’s going to be 106 degrees,” he said. “We can’t open windows. The smoke is unbelievable.”

PG&E plans to shut off power in the Quail Oaks subdivision and areas around Sample Road as crews work to replace equipment in a high-fire risk area, said company spokeswoman Katie Allen.

“We never make the decision to make customers be without power lightly,” Allen said.

The utility is combining the work of two construction projects into one morning to eliminate shutting off power a second time. The work, Allen said, “has to be completed to ensure the safety of the area.”

Drilling doesn’t know why the work can’t be postponed a couple weeks to allow temperatures to fall and the smoke to dissipate. “There are some mornings I can’t see probably 150 yards in front of me,” he said. “It’s almost like tule fog.”

“The best laid plans,” Drilling said “sometimes have to be changed and adapted.”

BoNhia Lee: 559-441-6495, @bonhialee

This story was originally published September 10, 2015 at 4:37 PM with the headline "Utility work in Clovis foothills to cut power to residents on Friday."