High California Fire Risk Could Lead to PG&E Power Outages in 30 Counties This Week

PG&E customers in 30 California counties could temporarily lose their electricity by the end of the week because of elevated fire risk across the state, the utility said Tuesday.

The potential power shutoffs are meant to avoid sparking a fire during critical conditions. The company reports that a “fully cured grass crop” is abundant at all elevations and that extra windy conditions could help a wildfire spread exceptionally quickly if a fire ignites.

The company’s meteorologists “are tracking a weather system that may bring strong winds up to 70 mph across parts of our service area,” said Megan McFarland, a public information officer for PG&E.

The National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning for the entire Central Coast, the Bay Area — including the San Francisco Bay shoreline — and the northern Central Valley. Dalton Behringer, a meteorologist with the agency’s Bay Area offices, said Californians should take extreme precautions because the dry and extra windy conditions will create perfect conditions for a wildfire to grow out of control.

“We’re not out of the woods,” Behringer said. “We’re getting closer to the wet season, but we still have to be vigilant, even if there’s rain on the horizon.”

Behringer said winds could reach 40 mph over mountain passes. In the Bay Area, the greatest threat is in the higher elevations of the North Bay, East Bay, Central Coast and Santa Cruz Mountains.

“By Thursday, the wind ramps up and then really switches around to that offshore direction by Thursday night,” Behringer said. “Friday and Saturday is when we see the driest conditions along with the wind.”

Starting Thursday, PG&E could cut power to customers in 12 counties: Alameda, Colusa, Contra Costa, Glenn, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Shasta, Solano, Sonoma, Tehama and Yolo.

As the fire risk grows into the weekend, customers in 30 counties could go without power on Friday and Saturday in these counties: Alameda, Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Fresno, Glenn, Lake, Madera, Mariposa, Mendocino, Merced, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Shasta, Sierra, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Tehama, Tuolumne and Yolo.

At this point, the potential power shutoff is just a warning, and McFarland said customers will be notified by email, phone or text “to help them plan and prepare for a potential” planned power outage.

McFarland said PG&E opened its emergency operations center in Vacaville on Tuesday before the potential power shutoff.