Sonoma celebrates holiday tree lighting — then the power goes off

The power outage on Saturday impacted 3,233 PG&E customers before power was returned later in the evening.|
CHASE HUNTER
INDEX-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Three hours after the annual holiday tree lighting filled Sonoma Plaza with brightness, power to over 3,000 Pacific Gas & Electric Co. customers in west Sonoma Valley went out.

High winds caused a tree branch to fall and hit an electrical wire at 9:04 p.m. Saturday, according to PG&E spokesperson Megan McFarland, causing an outage for 3,233 customers in the El Dorado Drive area of Boyes Hot Springs.

Power was restored to 2,819 customers at 10:22 p.m. and at 2:37 a.m. Sunday to the remaining 414 customers, McFarland said.

McFarland stressed the importance of residents to remain vigilant if they see a downed power line, which may still be electrified.

“PG&E would like to remind customers that if you are out and about in your community and you see a downed power line, please assume it’s energized, stay away and call 911 and PG&E and we will come out and make the area safe,” she wrote to the Index-Tribune on Monday.

Contact Chase Hunter at chase.hunter@sonomanews.com and follow @Chase_HunterB on Twitter.

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