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In this article, Rylie Revercomb will be writing about the deadly fires and heat that are quickly shutting down power along the west coast.
Fire Shuts Down Power Along the West Coast
Fire Shuts Down Power Along the West Coast
By Rylie Revercomb
By Rylie Revercomb
On Friday Sept. 2 2022, Oregon’s two largest power companies, PGE and Pacific Power, announced that they would turn off the power lines on the coast of Oregon on the weekend of Sept. 10. They feared that fallen power lines would spark fires due to the intense heat, just like they did in the Cascades two years ago. Portland General Electric turned off the power grid in various counties on the morning of Friday Sept. ninth, and PacificCorp took similar actions as well, affecting many of Oregon’s counties due to this year's astounding summer temperatures.
A Map of all the Counties Affected by the Shutdown: Photo by Pacific Corp
This year has obliterated record temperature highs in both Oregon and Washington, leaving citizens struggling in this unprecedented heat wave. According to Scientific American, this summer, Portland (Oregon’s biggest city) reached a record high of 116 degrees Fahrenheit, shattering previous records of 108 F. Not only this, but Salem, Oregon’s capital, also obliterated previous heat records, rising to a high of 113 F compared to previous records of 108 F. In Washington, Seattle also seemed to reach record highs, reaching about 110 F. “We’ve never seen this before,” said Dustin Guy, a meteorologist at NWS’s office in Seattle. “We’ve only had three days of 100 or more degrees in 126 years, and it looks like we’re ready to get three in a row now, There’s really nothing to compare to it.”
In light of the record temperatures, both Portland General Electric and PacifiCorp decided to take similar measures to shut off power along Oregon’s coast, afraid that fallen power lines could spark fires. As explained by KGW8 News, this affected 49,500 customers and 13 counties in total, with PGE affecting five counties and 37,000 customers, and PacifiCorp affecting eight counties and 12,500 customers. This left these people without any means of power during this year’s biggest heat wave, with heat stroke and exhaustion as a concern. Thankfully, the City of Portland and a couple of other organizations opened up overnight cooling shelters that weekend, and nearly 250 people used these cooling shelters to their advantage. There were even some cooling shelters offered up in Multnomah County, and one of the County Officials tells Willamette Week, “We had 108 people seeking relief [Wednesday] between 2 and 10 pm in the cooling space run by Do Good Multnomah in Old Town. We had 118 people come into the Old Town cooling space on Thursday, from 2 to 10 pm.”
Cooling Centers in Portland Oregon: Photo by Willamette Week
However, these cooling shelters do not seem to be enough, as a sum of approximately 600 people died after the heat wave passed, and this death toll only seems to be greatly increasing. According to Time Magazine, by the middle of this century, the United States is expected to have over 20 to 30 extreme heat days a year. This rise in heat seems to almost confirm the death of more people each year if they can not gain access to power or cooling shelters, which is why this shut-off sent a wave of panic throughout the Oregon Coast.
People now wait in the dark for the lights to turn back on, controlled by the fires, and heat, that surge through the West Coast.
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