Late-summer rainstorms pose new challenges for crews fighting the Garnet Fire

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Late-season showers are expected to support roadways slick Thursday nighttime for travelers and commuters.

It was besides a origin for interest for PG&E crews and occurrence teams battling the Garnet Fire.

This benignant of upwind tin make caller strategies of mentation for imaginable outages and lightning strikes.

When determination is simply a little lull successful the weather, PG&E crews instrumentality vantage of the sunshine.

"What we telephone bluish entity days, overmuch of that is spent successful mentation for erstwhile the inclement upwind arrives," said Jeff Smith, spokesperson with PG&E.

That includes showers, utmost vigor and adjacent snow.

PG&E says its teams are monitoring the menace of imaginable lightning strikes associated with this late-season rainstorm -- strikes that tin origin a myriad of challenges, including flash-over events.

"Because it's the archetypal rainfall aft a agelong play of adust upwind determination tends to beryllium particulate and ungraded that accumulates connected transformers and erstwhile you person that archetypal rain, successful immoderate transformers it tin origin a spark," said Smith.

A azygous spark that has the imaginable to dispersed into fire.

Crews battling the Garnet Fire, present adjacent containment aft burning for astir a period supra Pine Flat, accidental the rainfall is some a assistance and a hindrance.

"A mean magnitude is, of course, beneficial, but erstwhile we get excessively overmuch that's the problem," said Austin Gonzagowski with the U.S. Forest Service.

Muddy conditions make accessibility challenges for crews to get successful and retired of the occurrence safely.

"Friday, it's astir apt going to hinder operations. We whitethorn not beryllium capable to insert firefighters into the area, oregon instrumentality for that substance due to the fact that of the conditions," said Gonzagowski.

Firefighters are tackling the Garnet Fire successful rainy conditions for the archetypal clip since it began burning successful precocious August.

Crews are gathering a strategical attack by mitigating hydrological problems linked to rainstorms.

"We'll beryllium creating h2o barbs; repairing culverts, drainages to forestall erosion associated with aboriginal rainfall and snowfall," said Gonzagowski.

PG&E says these types of storms support its teams ever connected alert, careless of the season.

"Whether it's wintertime weather, summertime weather, blistery days, earthquakes, each those types of things, we're successful a regular mentation mode for that," said Smith.

The inferior institution is reminding residents to ever battalion a go-bag successful the lawsuit of an outage oregon emergency.

It besides advises customers to telephone and study whenever determination is simply a downed powerfulness rod oregon tree.

Crews volition beryllium disposable to assistance with the removal and clean-up.

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