The Linn County Sheriff’s Office is assisting area utility companies with alerting their service subscribers of a weather event that may result in outages beginning Friday. Linn County Sheriff Michelle Duncan wants to make all Linn County residents aware of the following information.
The National Weather Service has forecast weather conditions beginning Friday that may result in an extreme risk of fire danger in both CPI and Pacific Power service territories.
Both CPI and Pacific Power are taking preventative measures to mitigate the risk of wildfires that could occur during this time.
As a last resort, CPI and Pacific Power may execute a Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) in high-risk areas. While all customers should be prepared, the areas of Linn County identified by the National Weather Service forecast — and both power companies — that are the likeliest to result in an unplanned outage include 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.
CPI and Pacific Power are asking all members to prepare now for the potential of an unplanned outage. Should an outage occur, it could take power companies between 12 and 48 hours (or longer) to restore power to all customers.
Linn County residents likely to be affected by unplanned 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.
Sheriff Michelle Duncan and her staff are in constant communication with area emergency response teams, utility and service industries, and continually assessing the safety of all residents. More information will be posted through social media, news outlets and emergency broadcasting.
For CPI customers, more information is available at cpi.coop, and by calling 1-800-872-9036
For Pacific Power customers, more information is available by calling 1-888-221-7070.