A group of about 100 people gathered outside Talent City Hall on Tuesday.
Organizer Cheryl Lashley said she had been keeping track of the power outages since July 1. She said there have been 17 outages since then, ranging from 45 minutes to nearly 20 hours.
“These outages…they affect us,” she said. “Those of us who have people in our homes on oxygen or ventilators, or things like that.”
In addition to making sure her husband has oxygen, Lashley also said she has lost water because the well her property is connected to shut off during the outages.
The electrical utility Pacific Power says the outages have been caused by “enhanced safety settings” on power lines to prevent wildfire ignitions during the hot, dry summer months.
“These are settings that are placed on equipment that are designed to de-energize power lines within a fraction of a second if there is a fault or interference detected on the line,” said Simon Gutierrez, spokesperson for Pacific Power, over the phone. “If a tree branch were to contact the power lines, the power would immediately go off and remain off until our crews can go out and inspect.”
Gutierrez said that Pacific Power has been in communication with Talent Mayor Darby Ayers-Flood and City Manager Gary Milliman to develop solutions. He said since meeting with city officials almost two weeks ago, Pacific Power adjusted settings on circuits and installed new equipment to minimize outages and respond to customers more quickly. The changes were detailed in an email issued to Talent residents Monday.
“What we’re doing here is trying to establish a balance between safety and reliability,” Gutierrez said. “That can be a tricky balance, but when there’s an elevated fire risk, we have to err on the side of safety.”
Talent was one of several communities devastated by the Almeda Fire that destroyed approximately 2,300 residential properties in the Rogue Valley in September 2020.
Oregon State Senator Jeff Golden (D-Ashland), who fielded questions during the rally, said that by increasing the sensitivity of line settings, Pacific Power is trying to protect itself from liability for starting wildfires during the summer months, but that not dealing with the risks would be a recipe for another Almeda Fire.
“We need to hold Pacific Power responsible for this,” Golden said. “But I am not blaming them for the fact that this situation is upon us and we weren’t amply prepared. There’s nobody that I know of, here in the Western U.S. or anywhere, that foresaw the situation we would be in right now.”
Golden suggested keeping the pressure on Pacific Power by presenting a compilation of resident’s stories about the power outages to the Public Utilities Commission, the only governing body with authority over utilities.
Lashley added that while she understands that it is important for Pacific Power to take safety precautions, the company should do a better job of keeping people informed of power outages.
“My whole mantra is, ‘Keep their feet to the fire,’” Lashley said. “And yes, pun intended. We have to keep at it.”
