Fremont agencies call community meeting to address power shutoffs following ABC7 News coverage
FREMONT, Calif. (KGO) -- Building a Better Bay Area now involves better preparing for widespread PG&E Public Safety Power Shutoffs.
In Fremont, ABC7 News first highlighted a senior community off Old Canyon Road where residents were anxious after losing power twice.
RELATED: PG&E outage brings anxiety for seniors at Fremont mobile living facility
Our coverage led local agencies to host a community meeting on Monday night, focused on proactive measures.
The Niles Canyon Mobile Home Park is home to hundreds who are 55-years and older. Many medically fragile residents within the park, rely on special equipment. The equipment relies on power.
"My concern was what a lot of older people that are living here were going to do obviously about their CPAP machines," resident David Delgadillo told ABC7 News. "Keeping their insulin chilled."
PG&E Power Shutoffs impacted the park twice.
At the community meeting, Monday, Fremont Police and Fire officials encouraged residents to act now, before the next one hits.
ABC7 News reconnected with 92-year-old Teresa Innerbickler. She said preparation for her means calling for more oxygen ahead of the next outage.
RELATED: ABC7 special 'Fire, Power, Wind: What Now?'
"That was scary," she said about the PSPS. "But I have wonderful people that furnish my oxygen. I called them and told them there was going to be an outage, and I was going to need extra oxygen. They ran in here with six big tanks for me, in no time at all."
Innerbickler suffers from COPD. She'll turn 93 on the 11th of November.
It's these delicate conditions and widespread blackouts that forced neighbor, Donna Smyth to create a special binder.
The binder is filled with critical information that is immediately available to first responders in any emergency situation- namely, the recent shutoffs.
"We were able to identify right away, like in a moment, who needed that help," Smyth explained to ABC7 News. "Who needed oxygen, who had a hard time, any kind of handicap at all."
She explained the binder identifies who lives in the park, what needs they have, what services they use, and any pertinent information that can help get what's needed to them faster during an emergency.
On Monday, Police, Fire and City leaders explained building resiliency is an important message.
RELATED: I-TEAM: History of PG&E's power problems
"That means that people actually create some redundancy in their own systems," Fremont Emergency Services Manager, Alex Schubek explained. "So that could be battery packs, it could be having generators available. So that we don't ultimately overload the entire medical system for every preventable medical need at that point."
This means thinking ahead and preparing whatever is needed for when resources are stretched thin.
Fremont Fire Chief Curtis Jacobson told ABC7 News, "The expectation is that you should be able to depend on friends, family, your community and yourself to survive basically for three days."
He said the park's location puts its residents at the base of the foothills, and at the base of a wildland-urban interface.
"So, I think it's kind of the luck of the draw as far as their location," Chief Jacobson said. "But we would just really like to be proactive and get them that they need so they can be sustained on their own."
RELATED: Anxiety runs high for Kincade Fire evacuees who were among last to get PG&E service restored
There's also a push to transform the mobile home park's clubhouse into a resource hub for residents, during power shutoffs.
Resident Smyth said someone reached out after seeing ABC7 News coverage, wanting to donate a generator to make that happen.
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