With wind on the way Lakehead residents worry about dead tree near power lines – Record Searchlight

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Lakehead residents said they were concerned about this tree damaging nearby Pacific Gas and Electric Co. power lines.(Photo: Damon Arthur/Record Searchlight)

For the past year, Janeen Pepper has watched a large pine across the street from her Lakehead home slowly die as the needlesturned from green to brown.

So last month, Pepper's neighbor, Brad Church, finally called Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to tell them the tree was dead and may need to be removed because it was near electrical lines and a transformer.

Pepper said she was unable to find out when the tree was going to be removed. With winter approaching, it worried her that wind and snow could break branches off the tree and knock out power to the neighborhood.

"It's dead. Look at it, the limbs are going to start falling off and the snows are going to start coming," Pepper said.

"There's been power outages because of the wind and this is one more dead tree close to a transformer," she said

Pepper said she had been unable to find out when crews planned to remove the tree, but on Tuesday, PG&E spokesman Paul Moreno said the company it hired to remove trees plans to cut down the tree within the next couple weeks.

He said the tree did not pose an immediate threat.

"If we had indeed identified it as a hazard tree it would have been removed that day," Moreno said.

Earlier in the year, the tree was inspected and it still had enough green canopy that it didn't warrant removal, Moreno said.

"But after the customer called us we re-examined the tree," he said."Although we found it to have enough green canopy left, we decided to have it removed due to customer concern and the possibility its condition could eventually make it eligible for removal in the future."

Lakehead residents said they were concerned about this tree damaging nearby Pacific Gas and Electric Co. power lines.(Photo: Damon Arthur/Record Searchlight)

PG&E is concerned about more than just trees in Lakehead this week. The company announced Monday that up to 300,000 customers in 25 counties, including Shasta County, could lose electricity on Wednesday due to high winds forecast for that day.

"Worsening dry conditions and expected high wind gusts pose an increased risk for damage and sparks on the electric system that have the potential to ignite fires in areas with dry vegetation," a PG&E news release said.

However, by Tuesday, PG&E said the number of customers affected by the public safety power outages was downgraded and would likely be around 181,000 people in 16 counties.

In Shasta County, PG&E is estimating 8,940 customers in Anderson, Cottonwood, Igo, Millville and Palo Cedro will be affected by the outages.

The outage will also affect some people living around Redding, PG&E said. However, most Redding residents get their electricity provided by Redding Electric Utility.

Damon Arthur is the Record Searchlights resources and environmentreporter. He is among the first on the scene at breaking news incidents, reporting real time on Twitter at@damonarthur_RS. Damon is part of a dedicated team of journalists who investigate wrongdoing and find the unheard voices to tell the stories of the North State. He welcomes story tips at 530-225-8226 and damon.arthur@redding.com. Help local journalism thrive bysubscribing today!

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With wind on the way Lakehead residents worry about dead tree near power lines - Record Searchlight