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Massive Power outages for NorCal

yz450mm

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The family is full of shit and the fake media is selling it to all buyers.
"The El Dorado County Sheriff’s office said Friday that an autopsy determined that the death of 67-year-old Robert Mardis minutes after the blackout was due to severe coronary disease, not the loss of electricity. The office said the investigation has closed."

(According to the article) He had congestive heart failure, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, both of which severely inhibit the body's ability to absorb oxygen from each breath. Without supplemental oxygen, somebody with even one of those diseases could easily have their oxygen saturation level fall low very quickly. Both of them combined means that without oxygen via nasal cannula or non-rebreather mask, your sat's go in the tank and you pass away.

So his cause of death was "coronary disease", resulting from congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, exasperated by low oxygen saturation, caused by a loss of supplemental oxygen, directly caused by loss of power to his prescribed medical equipment. Any more questions?

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yz450mm

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The family is full of shit and the fake media is selling it to all buyers.
"The El Dorado County Sheriff’s office said Friday that an autopsy determined that the death of 67-year-old Robert Mardis minutes after the blackout was due to severe coronary disease, not the loss of electricity. The office said the investigation has closed."

Also, you should probably check your Source before you quote it on here spouting off some bullshit. According to the link that you quoted,

"Late Friday afternoon, the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office determined the cause of death as severe coronary artery atherosclerosis. However, the sheriff’s office did not say whether or not the power going out played a factor in his death."

Comment?

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highvoltagehands

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Also, you should probably check your Source before you quote it on here spouting off some bullshit. According to the link that you quoted,

"Late Friday afternoon, the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office determined the cause of death as severe coronary artery atherosclerosis. However, the sheriff’s office did not say whether or not the power going out played a factor in his death."

Comment?

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Well Dr Doolittle, That’s not the article i quoted. So Before you go spouting off you might want to read & quote the correct article. Read the article Ritchey posted, not the BS Fox Media article. In it the Sheriff clearly states the death his death was not from the loss of electricity. I quoted it word for word.
Now go back to watching your Greys Anatomy reruns so you can quote some more medical lingo.:D
 

SoCalDave

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Wonder how many more claims will be filed when this shit happens.

SACRAMENTO —



A 67-year-old man with health issues died 12 minutes after Pacific Gas & Electric cut the power to his Pollock Pines neighborhood in Northern California late Wednesday, and his daughter believes the outage was a contributing factor.

However, an autopsy by the El Dorado County Coroner’s Office late Friday determined the cause of death was a heart issue, not the power outage, a spokesman said.

Robert Mardis Sr. was using a continuous positive airway pressure machine that helps keep airways open, but it stopped working when the electricity was cut by PG&E around 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday, said Marie Aldea, his daughter. She said her father collapsed and died 12 minutes after the power went out at her home, where her father was staying.

“The power had just gone off so he was going to his portable oxygen machine,” Aldea said. “We weren’t even able to get to the generator it happened so quick.”

The El Dorado County Sheriff/Coroner’s Office conducted a postmortem exam Friday afternoon.

“An autopsy was completed this afternoon and the cause of death was determined as severe coronary artery atherosclerosis,” the office said in a statement. “Mardis also had a clinical history of COPD [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease]. The investigation into this death has concluded and this case is considered closed.”
 

yz450mm

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Well Dr Doolittle, That’s not the article i quoted. So Before you go spouting off you might want to read & quote the correct article. Read the article Ritchey posted, not the BS Fox Media article. In it the Sheriff clearly states the death his death was not from the loss of electricity. I quoted it word for word.
Now go back to watching your Greys Anatomy reruns so you can quote some more medical lingo.:D

Not a fan of Grey's Anatomy, so I got all my medical knowledge from Doogie Howser, MD.
Or maybe it was the paramedic school that I went to, or the years I spent as a FF/EMT? I actually remember running a couple of calls on linemen that got juiced, seems like those guys ditched the attitude after they'd had some voltage run through them. Both were OK, but I remember the scared look in their eyes when we pulled up, and the relief that I saw once we put them on the monitor and their heart rhythms were normal.

The guy in question had a major heart problems, was on Cpap, and died within 12 minutes of the power going out at 3:30 in the morning. His cause of death was that his heart/lungs were giving up on him, but the reason he died is that the power was shut off. It's not a coincidence... The power company could easily have done the outage in the morning when people could have dealt with it much better.
 

highvoltagehands

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Not a fan of Grey's Anatomy, so I got all my medical knowledge from Doogie Howser, MD.
Or maybe it was the paramedic school that I went to, or the years I spent as a FF/EMT? I actually remember running a couple of calls on linemen that got juiced, seems like those guys ditched the attitude after they'd had some voltage run through them. Both were OK, but I remember the scared look in their eyes when we pulled up, and the relief that I saw once we put them on the monitor and their heart rhythms were normal.

The guy in question had a major heart problems, was on Cpap, and died within 12 minutes of the power going out at 3:30 in the morning. His cause of death was that his heart/lungs were giving up on him, but the reason he died is that the power was shut off. It's not a coincidence... The power company could easily have done the outage in the morning when people could have dealt with it much better.

Good deal my man. Thank you for helping my Brethren. I too remember rolling onto a call for help requiring pole top hurt man rescue and seeing the worried & relief look in a Lineman’s eyes and the look of helplessness, then relief in the FF crew as they stood by while I performed the rescue. I did thank the EMT’s for taking over and providing medical aid after he was on the ground. That day changed all of us involved. Rant and pissing match over.
Back to the thread, The time of the outage was weather driven by high winds about to hit the area. Waiting till its convenient defeats the purpose and puts the public at risk. The utility did notify the public over 48hrs in advance of the PSPS outages coming and when their power was expected to be turned off. No utility guarantees power and all customers with oxygen needs are advised to have standby oxygen at all times. The fact that this guy passed is on him and his family alone. The family and the media just eat this stuff up and distort the facts causing the public to jump on board. That said, I bet you’d sing a different tune if the family and media said it’s FF/EMT ‘s fault because they didn’t respond within 4 minutes which is the standard for our areas.
 

was thatguy

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Good deal my man. Thank you for helping my Brethren. I too remember rolling onto a call for help requiring pole top hurt man rescue and seeing the worried & relief look in a Lineman’s eyes and the look of helplessness, then relief in the FF crew as they stood by while I performed the rescue. I did thank the EMT’s for taking over and providing medical aid after he was on the ground. That day changed all of us involved. Rant and pissing match over.
Back to the thread, The time of the outage was weather driven by high winds about to hit the area. Waiting till its convenient defeats the purpose and puts the public at risk. The utility did notify the public over 48hrs in advance of the PSPS outages coming and when their power was expected to be turned off. No utility guarantees power and all customers with oxygen needs are advised to have standby oxygen at all times. The fact that this guy passed is on him and his family alone. The family and the media just eat this stuff up and distort the facts causing the public to jump on board. That said, I bet you’d sing a different tune if the family and media said it’s FF/EMT ‘s fault because they didn’t respond within 4 minutes which is the standard for our areas.

As an outsider, and strictly a consumer, I can find no fault with your post.

As you know I moved a couple months ago. But while still in Vacaville I have to say I got SO MANY notices all summer long from PGE warning that this was going to happen I quit opening them.
Anyone caught by surprise by the shut downs have no excuse.
 

highvoltagehands

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Hey WTG, I hope AZ is treating you well. Seeing your posts it looks like a solid decision for the better.
 

RiverDave

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Gotta day I learned an absolute ton about utilities in this thread, mostly due to xring’s posts..

Really glad I read it!!
 

Flying_Lavey

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Did anybody see the story about Berkeley being pissed cause they lost years of research due to the power outage?

I read that and was pissed! How can a very well funded public University NOT be prepared for that? How is critical research NOT on back-up power? Just straight stupid!

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4Waters

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Did anybody see the story about Berkeley being pissed cause they lost years of research due to the power outage?

I read that and was pissed! How can a very well funded public University NOT be prepared for that? How is critical research NOT on back-up power? Just straight stupid!

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HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Fuk Berkley.
 

Taboma

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Did anybody see the story about Berkeley being pissed cause they lost years of research due to the power outage?

I read that and was pissed! How can a very well funded public University NOT be prepared for that? How is critical research NOT on back-up power? Just straight stupid!

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Years ago at UCSD We were performing a campus wide HVAC controls upgrade and unfairly, incorrectly and prematurely suffered the wrath of scientists after a power failure apparently destroyed months of their research. One of those "Well you were working in the building so it must be your fault" blame games.

Consequently fell on me to prove our innocence, which I did and revealed the cause and proof at a meeting called to hang us by our nuts.
But you should have seen the dumbfounded looks from this assembled group of leading scientists when after exonerating ourselves, when I inquired why, if these experiments were so critical, was there was no backup power ?

Their answer left me equally dumbfounded --- "Because any campus power outages had to be preceded by an "Outage Request", thereby allowing them time to properly initiated an orderly shutdown. So there ya have it, there can be no power outages without proper authorization :p
 

RiverDave

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Years ago at UCSD We were performing a campus wide HVAC controls upgrade and unfairly, incorrectly and prematurely suffered the wrath of scientists after a power failure apparently destroyed months of their research. One of those "Well you were working in the building so it must be your fault" blame games.

Consequently fell on me to prove our innocence, which I did and revealed the cause and proof at a meeting called to hang us by our nuts.
But you should have seen the dumbfounded looks from this assembled group of leading scientists when after exonerating ourselves, when I inquired why, if these experiments were so critical, was there was no backup power ?

Their answer left me equally dumbfounded --- "Because any campus power outages had to be preceded by an "Outage Request", thereby allowing them time to properly initiated an orderly shutdown. So there ya have it, there can be no power outages without proper authorization :p

That’s insane!!lol
 

Taboma

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That’s insane!!lol

And then one day I ran into a really smart research scientist.
When I encountered him, he was bent over his lab table studying rocks. Curious, I inquired about the rocks, he looked up and explained they were a few collected during one of the manned lunar landings. Cool, I'd never seen moon rocks and he was nice enough to allow me a close peek.
Now even more curious, I just had to ask, "Since it's been around 50 years since they were brought back to earth, why are you still researching them ?"
His answer caught me by complete surprise ---
"Why are you installing computer automation digital controls on HVAC equipment, under the guise of "Energy Efficiency", that should have been replaced twenty years ago ?"
It's quite likely I'd just met the smartest guy on the entire campus :D
 

Xring01

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At the Stanford Linear Accelerator Lab... a slight voltage fluctuation, can cause $Millions of lost projects and 6-12 months worth of work.

They have spent alot of money with the necessary equipment to prevent this from happening... Its not cheap.

I was fortunate enough to meet with their Electrical Engineering Dept years ago. There are some very very smart people there. The entire staff is PhDs in EE.

The purpose of the meeting was to prevent voltage issues. The reason why it was so critical, is that the test they were about to perform was to take a picture of smashing an atom, to see how it comes apart, to determine the sub atomic particles. If they can figure out how it comes apart, maybe they can figure out how to put one together. THerefore they would be able to create drugs of the future, to treat, Cancer, Leukemia, Parkinson etc etc etc.... Atoms are not the smallest things.

Think about the camera, that's capable of take a picture fast enough and zooms in enough to see something thats never been seen before... Plus the requirements of the Linear Accelerator to smash atoms in the first place....
 

Taboma

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At the Stanford Linear Accelerator Lab... a slight voltage fluctuation, can cause $Millions of lost projects and 6-12 months worth of work.

They have spent alot of money with the necessary equipment to prevent this from happening... Its not cheap.

I was fortunate enough to meet with their Electrical Engineering Dept years ago. There are some very very smart people there. The entire staff is PhDs in EE.

The purpose of the meeting was to prevent voltage issues. The reason why it was so critical, is that the test they were about to perform was to take a picture of smashing an atom, to see how it comes apart, to determine the sub atomic particles. If they can figure out how it comes apart, maybe they can figure out how to put one together. THerefore they would be able to create drugs of the future, to treat, Cancer, Leukemia, Parkinson etc etc etc.... Atoms are not the smallest things.

Think about the camera, that's capable of take a picture fast enough and zooms in enough to see something thats never been seen before... Plus the requirements of the Linear Accelerator to smash atoms in the first place....

At Tri-Alpha Energy, when they fire the Fusion Research Reactor "Norman", they use two huge Kinetic Energy Flywheels to generate the incredible amounts of precise power needed to energize the magnets and lasers --- for the few seconds needed for each reactor firing.
I was privileged to work for three years with amazing scientists and a brilliant EE on that project, Robert Hatch.
After completing the electrical, I retired with complete satisfaction and knowing nothing could compare.
 

Singleton

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Not a fan of Grey's Anatomy, so I got all my medical knowledge from Doogie Howser, MD.
Or maybe it was the paramedic school that I went to, or the years I spent as a FF/EMT? I actually remember running a couple of calls on linemen that got juiced, seems like those guys ditched the attitude after they'd had some voltage run through them. Both were OK, but I remember the scared look in their eyes when we pulled up, and the relief that I saw once we put them on the monitor and their heart rhythms were normal.

The guy in question had a major heart problems, was on Cpap, and died within 12 minutes of the power going out at 3:30 in the morning. His cause of death was that his heart/lungs were giving up on him, but the reason he died is that the power was shut off. It's not a coincidence... The power company could easily have done the outage in the morning when people could have dealt with it much better.

Power company announced potential power outages and time periods. co-worker who lost power with elderly parents on different machines where on emergency power starting at noon Thursday since their window of power outage started at 2pm.

This is the chicken and egg scenario. Was it lack of equipment or health issues that caused him to pass. Can argue both, only summary = sucks for family and media is playing off that family’s emotions
 

Flying_Lavey

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And then one day I ran into a really smart research scientist.
When I encountered him, he was bent over his lab table studying rocks. Curious, I inquired about the rocks, he looked up and explained they were a few collected during one of the manned lunar landings. Cool, I'd never seen moon rocks and he was nice enough to allow me a close peek.
Now even more curious, I just had to ask, "Since it's been around 50 years since they were brought back to earth, why are you still researching them ?"
His answer caught me by complete surprise ---
"Why are you installing computer automation digital controls on HVAC equipment, under the guise of "Energy Efficiency", that should have been replaced twenty years ago ?"
It's quite likely I'd just met the smartest guy on the entire campus :D

You shoulda came back with "cause nobody gave a damn about 'Energy efficiency' 20 years ago. Although the OG pneumatic controls work great and are even more reliable.

But yes, he probably was the smartest person on campus. Lol!

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Taboma

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You shoulda came back with "cause nobody gave a damn about 'Energy efficiency' 20 years ago. Although the OG pneumatic controls work great and are even more reliable.

But yes, he probably was the smartest person on campus. Lol!

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Honestly, I didn't say a damn thing, I just grinned from ear to ear as I contemplated if I should allow him to live and him me :rolleyes: :p
It was obvious, "We" knew to much, lol :p
But at the end of the weeks, we each cashed our respective paychecks regardless of the "Insanity".
This being just one project in a sweeping "Energy Conservation" controls retrofit effort that for us lasted close to 15 years. :)
 

Taboma

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@Flying_Lavey being a controls guy you'll appreciate this. In fact you've probably encountered it. ;)
Obviously our DDC projects were not well received by the "Ole Timers" running the HVAC facility shops.
When we started the two year project at the then Miramar Naval Air Station (San Diego), with a scope encompassing every building on the base, it was a prime example of such modernization "Resistance". :eek:
The grumpy ole fuck who ran the public works HVAC shop told me in private after our first meeting --- "I'm going to follow behind you and disconnect every one of these #@#**## POS fancy controls you're installing" and go back to what we know. :eek:
I nicely explained that I didn't give two shits what he did after we left, but PLEASE at least allow me to get my work bought off first. He agreed and we got along just fine.
Of course during the course of the project he came to realize that the "Energy Gods" had spoken, he would either submit and adapt or get put out to pasture. :)
 

Flying_Lavey

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@Flying_Lavey being a controls guy you'll appreciate this. In fact you've probably encountered it. ;)
Obviously our DDC projects were not well received by the "Ole Timers" running the HVAC facility shops.
When we started the two year project at the then Miramar Naval Air Station (San Diego), with a scope encompassing every building on the base, it was a prime example of such modernization "Resistance". :eek:
The grumpy ole fuck who ran the public works HVAC shop told me in private after our first meeting --- "I'm going to follow behind you and disconnect every one of these #@#**## POS fancy controls you're installing" and go back to what we know. :eek:
I nicely explained that I didn't give two shits what he did after we left, but PLEASE at least allow me to get my work bought off first. He agreed and we got along just fine.
Of course during the course of the project he came to realize that the "Energy Gods" had spoken, he would either submit and adapt or get put out to pasture. :)
Ahhh yes.... The old guys that cannot evolve with technology. I always loved the guys that ask "How do I know if it's working?" They HATE when you explain to them how to do basic diagnostics. Good news is it seems most all the old pneumatic hold out are all faded away or have accepted the change. Now it's the Cyber security that refuses to allow the older systems to access the networks.

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Taboma

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Ahhh yes.... The old guys that cannot evolve with technology. I always loved the guys that ask "How do I know if it's working?" They HATE when you explain to them how to do basic diagnostics. Good news is it seems most all the old pneumatic hold out are all faded away or have accepted the change. Now it's the Cyber security that refuses to allow the older systems to access the networks.

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I chuckle, knowing I'm now that "Old Guy", who just recently ditched his Flip Phone and adopted my wife's old Smart one, lol :p:p:D
I also don't have anything controlled digitally or by smart phone in my entire house :D But I do have a very nice Honeywell zone controller and fancy dampers and shit :rolleyes:
I always found it comical as I did an interesting insight into human behavior back in the "Ole School Days" when we'd install a dummy T-stat in some chronic complainer's office, connected to absolutely nothing and magically they were satisfied.

" Now it's the Cyber security that refuses to allow the older systems to access the networks." --- Hmmm, software upgrade incentives, lol :rolleyes:
 

Yellowboat

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That’s insane!!lol
You clearly have never delt with colleges.

I reported a coach that used a colleges facilities for sexual abuse of a minor. For which he was later convicted and spent time in prison for. The ammount of bs I had to deal with to report to the campus staff of what was going on, was insane. It made the usoc look easy by comparison.
 

Flying_Lavey

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I chuckle, knowing I'm now that "Old Guy", who just recently ditched his Flip Phone and adopted my wife's old Smart one, lol :p:p:D
I also don't have anything controlled digitally or by smart phone in my entire house :D But I do have a very nice Honeywell zone controller and fancy dampers and shit :rolleyes:
I always found it comical as I did an interesting insight into human behavior back in the "Ole School Days" when we'd install a dummy T-stat in some chronic complainer's office, connected to absolutely nothing and magically they were satisfied.

" Now it's the Cyber security that refuses to allow the older systems to access the networks." --- Hmmm, software upgrade incentives, lol :rolleyes:
Someone not wanting to upgrade personal stuff.... No biggie. But when a person's employer decides to upgrade and said person fights it..... That's when it's comical.

Those software upgrades now at about $15k a pop!

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rrrr

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Years ago at UCSD We were performing a campus wide HVAC controls upgrade and unfairly, incorrectly and prematurely suffered the wrath of scientists after a power failure apparently destroyed months of their research. One of those "Well you were working in the building so it must be your fault" blame games.

One day back in the 90s, I was at the national headquarters of Duracell in Danbury, CT to advise them about replacing their data center UPS system with a larger and more efficient unit. The data center manager took me into their main electrical room where the UPS was located, and I started taking notes about the input and output switchgear, floor space, and stuff like that.

I walked around the back of the UPS, and at that moment the power failed. Some bugeye emergency lights came on, and the UPS continued to run on battery power. The manager went nuts, "What the fuck did you do?"

I pointed out there weren't any breakers, switches, or controls on the back of the UPS, and that I hadn't done anything. After 7 or 8 minutes the power was restored and the guy started breathing again. It was pretty funny.
 
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