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CNN Live Sunday
Thousands Still Without Power In San Francisco
Aired December 21, 2003 - 16:24 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HOLLY FIRFER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's update how many people are still without power and when it might be turned back on to everyone. Joining me now by phone is Jeff Smith, a smokeman for the Pacific Gas and Electric company. And, Jeff, do we have an idea of when the rest of the city might see the lights come on?
JEFF SMITH, PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC (via telephone): We're bringing people gradually up as we have been doing throughout the day today. We expect that the last few thousand customers that will be remaining out will come back on between 7:00 and 7:30 this evening as our best estimate. Many folks that are without power right now will be brought online before that time gradually throughout the day.
FIRFER: And we hear that you say it's a substation fire. Do we know what the cause of that fire was?
SMITH: We don't know the cause of the fire. At this point our focus has been on restoring as many customers as we can as quickly as we can, so we've been putting off of our emphasis and effort into that. Once that restoration project has been completed we'll take a closer look at what caused the fire and evaluate what we can do to prevent something like that happening in the future.
FIRFER: And Jeff, given the national terror alert being lifted from yellow to orange or elevated to high, could this be a terrorist attack? Could you clear that up for us and maybe put some minds at ease?
SMITH: Certainly. There's certainly nothing at all to indicate that there's anything like that that occurred here. We obviously will want to do a complete and full investigation and evaluation before we make a final determination on what the root cause of this fire was. Certainly, there's been nothing at all to indicate anything related to terrorism, in any manner, way, shape or form.
FIRFER: Given the terror alert being raised and increased chatter what, is PG&E doing to protect the area there, to protect the substation there?
SMITH: Well, since 9/11, we have increased security procedures all throughout our company, and we have really raised our security levels all throughout. So nothing specific has happened as a result of this recent increase in the terror alert, because we have increased our security precautions so greatly since 9/11.
FIRFER: Jeff Smith, Pacific Gas and Electric company, thanks so much for your time today. SMITH: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 21, 2003 - 16:24 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HOLLY FIRFER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's update how many people are still without power and when it might be turned back on to everyone. Joining me now by phone is Jeff Smith, a smokeman for the Pacific Gas and Electric company. And, Jeff, do we have an idea of when the rest of the city might see the lights come on?
JEFF SMITH, PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC (via telephone): We're bringing people gradually up as we have been doing throughout the day today. We expect that the last few thousand customers that will be remaining out will come back on between 7:00 and 7:30 this evening as our best estimate. Many folks that are without power right now will be brought online before that time gradually throughout the day.
FIRFER: And we hear that you say it's a substation fire. Do we know what the cause of that fire was?
SMITH: We don't know the cause of the fire. At this point our focus has been on restoring as many customers as we can as quickly as we can, so we've been putting off of our emphasis and effort into that. Once that restoration project has been completed we'll take a closer look at what caused the fire and evaluate what we can do to prevent something like that happening in the future.
FIRFER: And Jeff, given the national terror alert being lifted from yellow to orange or elevated to high, could this be a terrorist attack? Could you clear that up for us and maybe put some minds at ease?
SMITH: Certainly. There's certainly nothing at all to indicate that there's anything like that that occurred here. We obviously will want to do a complete and full investigation and evaluation before we make a final determination on what the root cause of this fire was. Certainly, there's been nothing at all to indicate anything related to terrorism, in any manner, way, shape or form.
FIRFER: Given the terror alert being raised and increased chatter what, is PG&E doing to protect the area there, to protect the substation there?
SMITH: Well, since 9/11, we have increased security procedures all throughout our company, and we have really raised our security levels all throughout. So nothing specific has happened as a result of this recent increase in the terror alert, because we have increased our security precautions so greatly since 9/11.
FIRFER: Jeff Smith, Pacific Gas and Electric company, thanks so much for your time today. SMITH: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
