Wildfires, Power Cuts Hit Northern, Southern California

 

Hundreds of thousands of families in California are being affected¹ by wildfires in the state, and as many as 1.5 million people may lose electrical power.

The company Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) called for another blackout early Tuesday in 29 northern California counties. An earlier power outage that started Saturday affected 2.5 million people, the Associated Press reported.

PG & E is the nation’s biggest utility company. But it has been severely² criticized for the last two years over the part it has played in fires in the state and how it has provided electricity during those times.

Some Californians are unhappy with the company’s decision to cut electricity. Janet Luoma of Santa Rosa told the Associated Press, “It’s so obvious it’s just to protect them from more liability.”

California Governor Gavin Newsom has grown accustomed to fires. “What’s interesting about the fires at this moment is that it’s rather normal,” he told reporters Monday. “What’s not normal is the power shutoffs,” he added.

The fires have affected or destroyed many homes across the state. They have even affected people who live in costly³ neighborhoods in southern California. NBA Basketball superstar LeBron James was forced to leave the area where he and his family live and tweeted about it on Sunday.

In Northern California, schools are closed in some areas while others do not have power. Stores in Oakland, near San Francisco, are using generators⁴. And many people use their cars to charge their electronic devices.

Affecting north and south

The fire is affecting areas in both the northern and southern parts of the nation’s second largest state by land area.

In the north, the California Department of Forestry⁵ & Fire Protection says the Kincade Fire is affecting more than 30,000 hectares in Sonoma County. The fire has been burning for five days and is only 15 percent contained. Sonoma County is famous for wine growing. The AP reported that 96 buildings were destroyed in the county as of Tuesday. But it is only one of the fires in the area.

In southern California one of the fires has destroyed homes near the Getty Museum which holds a major art collection and library. However, while eight homes nearby were burned the museum is in better condition than other structures. It is made of stone and has a huge water storage tank.

Strong winds are feeding the fires and spreading them quickly. Weather experts on Tuesday said they expected strong winds in the north with little chance of rain.

Scotty Richardson spoke⁶ to AP about his experience. He lost power on Saturday. He said the possibility that electricity will not be restored for days makes him “furious, furious.”

Last week, PG & E admitted that its equipment might have been the cause of fires in some areas.

I’m Mario Ritter Jr.

Words in This Story

county–n. an area of a state or country that is larger than a city and has its own government to deal with local matters?

utility –n. a service that supplies something needed to the public like electricity or water

accustomed –adj. used to, familiar with something so that it appears normal

rather–adv. to some degree or extent?

liability –n. to be legally responsible for something

evacuate⁷ –v. to leave some place, often by order

furious –adj. extremely angry

1 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

2 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

3 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

4 generators   

n.发电机，发生器( generator的名词复数 )；电力公司

参考例句：

• The factory's emergency generators were used during the power cut. 工厂应急发电机在停电期间用上了。
• Power can be fed from wind generators into the electricity grid system. 电力可以从风力发电机流入输电网。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 forestry   

n.森林学；林业

参考例句：

• At present, the Chinese forestry is being at a significant transforming period. 当前, 我国的林业正处于一个重大的转折时期。
• Anhua is one of the key forestry counties in Hunan province. 安化县是湖南省重点林区县之一。

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。