With most of Western Nevada County without power during PG&E's Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS), local businesses, organizations and neighborhoods rallied to support each other with extra compassion during the power outage. Local grocery stores donated food they couldn't keep, and both the local media and residents helped to share businesses providing ice, water and food.

Although not a comprehensive list, these are a few good news stories we’ve heard and want to share. We know acts of kindness large and small went a long way. Please feel free to share other good news stories from the October PSPS with us on Twitter and Facebook. These are a few of the good news stories we’ve heard:

• Local grocery stores, such as SPD Markets, donated food they couldn’t keep.
• A local Starbucks donated their sandwiches to Hospitality House for dinner while their kitchen was without power
• The Food Bank of Nevada County relocated their food distribution to the Eric Rood Center and brought 4 trucks of 3,300 lbs of fresh produce and 10,000 lbs of dry goods for customers
• BriarPatch Food Co-op also stopped by the Food Bank distribution with a few trucks of donated food
• Local media provided quick, accurate and helpful information to the public with backup plans in place
• Residents reached out to neighbors in person and on social media to help share what local businesses were open for gas, ice and food
• Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital for continued their high standard of care and put the community’s needs first
• Local law enforcement quickly responded to help with traffic control around open businesses
• Nevada Irrigation District (NID) ensured that water service continued throughout the outage
• CalTrans for staffed generators overnight to keep stoplights running on Highway 49

Although all County buildings in Western Nevada County closed to the public due to the outages, County staff stepped up to continue to provide services. Here are some of the ways employees continued County services throughout the outages:

• The Office of Emergency Services activated the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to respond to the power shutoffs
• Wastewater crews were able to continue with some regular maintenance and kept generators on each plant fueled and operational
• Sheriff and Roads Crews were staffed for the high fire weather and wind event
• Social Services and Probation staff helped man the County’s overnight Medical Device Charging Center on Wednesday evening
• Facilities staff ensured critical services were operational on generator power
• IT staff helped reroute phone lines and troubleshoot ongoing IT issues associated to the outages
• District Attorney’s and Public Defender’s staffed court and worked from laptops to respond to clients
• Environmental Health staff is working with local restaurant owners to make sure food facilities are safely up and running for the public
• Building inspectors and staff worked off of their laptops and cell phones to answer calls and continue processing and issuing online permits.
• Clerk of the Board staff worked on moving the Board agenda process forward before the October 22^nd Board of Supervisors meeting
• Auditor staff worked through the outages to complete payroll

A thank you goes out to all those in our community who helped out their neighbors, donated to residents, and made the extra effort to support those affected by the power shutoffs. If you are continuing to feel the impacts of the Public Safety Power Shutoff, please contact 211 for updates and resources that can help.