Wild Turkeys Cause Brief Power Outages on Thanksgiving and Subsequent Days Near Ukiah

[Image from WikiCommons]

Contreras said PG&E workers near the scene spoke with residents and determined that a rafter of 60-70 turkeys has been roosting in the area, hence the repeated occurrences. “It is the time of year in which we do see more turkey activity and birds flying into lines,” Contreras pointed out.

Contreras explained the first outage occurred on Thanksgiving morning around 6:51 a.m. caused when a turkey “flew into the line.” A PG&E employee who responded actually located a deceased turkey at 1960 Wildwood Road. Customer service was restored in the area around 8:00 a.m.

Three days later, the same 62 customers experienced a power outage around 6:50 a.m. “due to what we think was more bird activity that caused damage to fuses on Redemeyer Road,” Contreras said. Power was restored around 8:11 a.m.

The most recent power outage occurred yesterday at 7:00 a.m. Contreras said, “Whatever impacted the line was not found by the time the crew member arrived at the scene but our equipment on Redemeyer Road had detected a fault.” By 8:00 a.m., the power had been restored.

PG&E has been considering various options to solve the turkey problem. One solution, Contreras explained, involved installing bird diverters (basically tiny colored windmills hanging from the line) to try and deter birds.

The other option would be increasing the distance between the powerlines. Contreras explained the power outages are likely a result of the large birds touching both lines at once. Increasing the distance between the wires would mitigate the potential of the birds touching both lines, but would require a planned outage. Contreras assured that customers would receive at least a week’s notice if that route was to be explored.

Below is a video of a similar incident that occurred in 2018 elsewhere: