Extreme fire danger to surround Bay Area
Strongest winds of year, massive shutoffs expected
Preparing for the most dangerous fire weather this season, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. said Friday it may shut off electricity on Sunday to nearly 500,000 customers across Northern California, including those in all but one Bay Area county.
Reacting to the warnings Friday, Berkeley officials urged residents in the hills to consider leaving town before the power goes off Sunday afternoon and not return until the danger subsides.
The National Weather Service issued red flag warnings for the entire Bay Area beginning Sunday evening, when meteorologists say the most powerful winds of the season could cause widespread damage and incite new wildfires.
PG& E planned for widespread preemptive shutoffs, nearly on the scale of last year’s outages that put millions in the dark. They are expected to start Sunday to reduce the risk of fires sparked by downed power lines. Shutoffs are expected in every Bay Area County except
San Francisco. Nearly 500,000 homes and businesses, or roughly 1.5 million people, in 38 counties across PG& E’s service area in Northern and Central California could lose power.
Weather models are predicting wind patterns similar to those that sparked the Kincade Fire last year — except that conditions are even drier now than in previous wildfire seasons.
“It won’t take much to get a fire started,” said National Weather Service meteorologist David King.
Cal Fire said it would increase staffing and stockpile equipment in critical areas in case fire breaks out.
The ridge lines and peaks of the North Bay and East Bay will be hardest hit. The red flag warning, indicating extreme fire danger, will take effect in those areas Sunday at 11 a. m. and run until Tuesday at 11 a. m. Wind gusts of up to 100 mph in isolated locations such as the Mayacamas Mountains on the border of Napa and Sonoma counties are possible, meteorologists said
In Berkeley, officials on Friday said that residents in the city’s hills “should stay on heightened alert,” keep phones charged, and consider leaving before Sunday afternoon — especially if they would have trouble getting out quickly in a fire.
red flag warning for the rest of the Bay Area — including the Peninsula and the
South Bay as well as the Santa Cruz Mountains — will take effect at 8 p. m. Sunday and extend until Monday at 11 a. m.
Blustery conditions won’t be confined to the hills: Cities including San Francisco, Oakland and Santa Rosa could see gusting winds between 30 and 40 mph.
The hillier parts of Oakland will see the greatest impact from PG& E’s planned shutoffs, with 23,949 customers who could be affected starting Sunday evening, according to information released by the utility Friday. Santa Rosa could see 15,053 customers lose power. Tens of thousands in unincorporated parts of Marin, Napa and Sonoma counties are also in shutoff zones. The shutoffs could last until Wednesday morning, PG& E said. Across the Bay Area, 143,726 homes and businesses could lose power.
Residents and businesses are bracing for the outages. Claudio Cravero, the director of operations at Tutu’s Food and Drink, a restaurant and market in Lafayette, said he is holding out hope that power stays on. Tutu’s bought a generator in June and will use it to keep food cold if the power goes out, but it will have to close to customers if PG& E cuts power, Cravero said.
“We’ll lose money if we’re without power for two or three days, and employees will miss out on income,” said Cravero, noting that Tutu’s employs 75 people. “Not a great situation.”
Cal Fire said Friday it is sending fire engines and aircraft to critical locations in preparation for Sunday’s expected fierce winds. In addition to stockpiling reserve equipment, the agency is working with the Office of Emergency Services to beef up staffing at fire departments in Northern California, including the North Bay, said Daniel Berlant, assistant deputy director of Cal Fire.
The agency is on “high alert” to prevent any windsparked flames from growing into destructive infernos akin to the Tubbs and Atlas fires of 2017, Berlant said.
“We are making sure additional aircraft and engines are available, so that if a fire breaks out, we can respond with more than normal resources,” he said.
Additionally, firefighters are monitoring the Glass Fire, which got to full containment on Tuesday, to prevent flareups caused by stray embers.
“With the winds, we’ll be watching those hot spots even closer,” Berlant said.
Wind events such as the one anticipated Sunday are normally confined to the Bay Area’s interior valleys and hills. But this time, the risk extends into highly populated areas that do not typically experience red flag conditions, said National Weather Service meteorologist Roger Gass.
“If a fire were to start, it would rapidly spread, including down in the Santa Clara Valley,” Gass said.
Along Mark West Springs Road in Santa Rosa, where the 2017 Tubbs Fire nearly eradicated neighborhoods on Old Redwood Highway, a sign on Friday warned of extreme fire danger near two subdivisions filled with new and underconstruction homes.
Many homeowners had backed their cars into their driveways — perhaps for a quicker escape.
Erik Figueroa, a medical assistant at the nearby Santa Rosa Community Health Clinic, shot hoops on his lunch break at an empty park.
A Sonoma resident who works in construction with his father, the 23yearold said he hadn’t seen or heard anyone packing up cars or trucks but assumed that many in the area were ready to go.
“I would guess people would be prepared,” he said, adding that his family was evacuated in 2017. “It’s always in the back of your mind.”
The high dry winds and threat of fire every fall is wearying, he said: “It makes things stressful for everyone.”