KPFZ Emergency Information
March 14, 2020
IMPORTANT NOTICE
The LCCR, Inc. Board is implementing the following actions in response to the COVID-19, aka novel coronavirus:
Warning: we are a small County, so just a few cases (one household) could move us from one level to another.
Also see CDC Communty Levels and CDC Community Level Map for details on the current status.
The station is periodically reviewing new Covid19 studio protocols. Subject to programmer agreements we can now have two people in the studio at the same time, and one live show can follow another.
Note : web sites are changing the pages about COVID-19 often, so we are just giving the top-level address.
The central reporting site for Covd19 DATA is : Lake County Public Health : COVID-19 Data
Lake County
Lake County Health Dept -- Coronavirus
(The official Covid-19 information line is 707-263-8174 - Monday-Friday 8am-5pm : email mhoac@lakecounty.ca.gov)
Lake County Sheriffs:
CDC (Centers for Disease Control)
WHO (World Health Organization)
US Representative John Garamondi has a page of useful information
The best way to prevent illness is to be fully vaccinated. In addition, because of breakthrough cases, avoid being exposed to this virus. The virus is thought to spread mainly from person-to-person between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet), and as aerosols, throughout a poorly ventilated area. This occurs through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person breaths, talks, coughs or sneezes. These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the nose and lungs. Your best protection indoors is a well-fitting surgical or N95 mask. Cloth masks are better than nothing, but give only slight protection. Older adults and people who have severe underlying chronic medical conditions like heart or lung disease or diabetes seem to be at higher risk for developing more serious complications from COVID-19 illness. Every person has a role to play. So much of protecting yourself and your family comes down to common sense:
Unofficial but reputable sites
New York Times: Charts and Maps down to the county level
San Jose Mercury News : Map of cases by county (updated daily)
Washington University : Cases and Hospital Capacity for USA and State (Right now California has the capacity, New York does not)
ncov19.live : Cases worldwide, with USA by state This site was created by Avi Schiffmann, a high schooler in Washington State, USA. (Updated continuously with data from official sources)
For the technically inclined, very good graphs (international and US states)
KPFZ Emergency Mode
Lakeport will not be affected, so we will be on-air (and streaming) during our normal broadcast day, 5 am to 2 am the next day. Shows will be hosted by the usual programmers, but we will provide frequent updates and take phone calls.
In the event that we LOSE power at the studio, we will be running on a (borrowed) generator for a limited schedule from 10 am to 6 pm with breaks for re-fuelling as needed. Designated programmers will come into the station : others should not.
PG&E Public Safety Power Shutoff, November 20, 2019
According to online reports and PG&E's outage map many areas have already been shut off.
(Clearlake, Lower Lake, Hidden Valley, Middletown and Cobb).
Most customers should be restored by sunset Thursday although some may take longer.
PG&E plans to open community resource centers at the following locations between 8 am and 8 pm:
– Clearlake Senior Community Center, 3245 Bowers Ave., Clearlake; (8 am - 5 pm)
– Konocti Vista Casino, 2755 Mission Rancheria Road, Lakeport;
– Twin Pine Casino & Hotel, 22223 Highway 29, Middletown;
– Robinson Rancheria Resort and Casino, 1545 State Highway 20, Nice.
– Red Hills Property, 7130 Red Hills Road, Kelseyville.
(They offer restrooms, device charging, bottled water and information. During the last shutoff some of the centers provided WiFi service).
Links : PGE Main Page PGE Outage Map PGE Predicted Outage Map
Fire Risk and Information
At present there are no major fires affecting Lake County. However, we are in a Red Flag Warning status : The National Weather Service (NWS) has upgraded Fire Weather Watches to Red Flag Warnings for many areas across central and northern California from 4 AM Wednesday until 7 AM Thursday due to the critical fire conditions and potential for rapidly spreading fires.
Lake County OES reports : Fire Chief Sapeta from Lake County Fire Protection District has informed us that Lake County has been approved for pre-positioned fire-based resources during the November 20th Red Flag Warning event. The additional fire personnel will be staged in Clearlake.
KPFZ Emergency Mode
Power has been restored everywhere, and no red flag weather events are forecast. The Kincade fire has reached 100% containment (although 'mop-up' work continues, and there may be occasional flare-ups).
This will be the last update for these events.
"This is an emergency message from the Lake County Sheriff's Office. Due to the Kincade wild fire in Sonoma County, an evacuation warning is being issued at this time for residents of Cobb Mountain and some surrounding communities. Those residents living in the Adams Springs, Hobergs, Cobb, Whispering Pines, Gifford Springs, Anderson Springs and those residents living on Ford Flat Road and Socrates Mine Road are under the evacuation warning. An evacuation warning is not a mandatory evacuation. Repeat. This is not an evacuation order, simply a warning. Residents who need extra time to evacuate in the event of a mandatory evacuation are encouraged to prepare now. Please prepare yourself by gathering your pets, essential items and medications and having them ready to go in case an evacuation order is issued."
The PG&E outage map is showing that nearly all power has been restored, with only one 10-customer neighborhood on Socrates Mine Road shut down, and another 10 on Grange Rd south of Hidden Valley Lake due to 'damaged equipment on a power pole' (both predicted to be up by 3pm). A few individual houses are reporting outages where the area has been reactivated.
This will be the last update.
Lake County is currently recovering from a PG&E "Public Safety Power Shutdown"
The studio has power and is in full operation, including streaming.
We have resumed normal programming, except that replays of shows during the power shutfown will not be available, so we will use older shows from the archive.
KPFZ will cover the power shutdown recovery as we receive updated information.
A few areas still have no power (Bottlerock Rd, Upper Lake, Middletown south of Twins Pines) : PG&E is currently predicting these will all be restored by 3 pm Saturday.
Lake County News has a report on the recovery status.