Over two-thousand PG and E customers in the Penn Valley and Rough and Ready areas were without electricity for more than six hours on Thursday. Spokesperson Megan McFarland says the outage began around 9:30am. And since the cause was unknown, and we’re in fire season, restoration can take longer…..

click to listen to Megan McFarland

And, McFarland says, that means PG and E has to patrol the entire line by helicopter, to ensure there are no obvious safety hazards. And this line is 40 miles long. She says rural areas also can complicate restoration efforts…

click to listen to Megan McFarland

McFarland says once the patrol is completed, and it’s determined that there’s either no hazard or the cause has been cleared, the line can then be reactivated. No hazard was found.