California is bracing for another fire threat
Windy conditions could prompt cuts in customer power
SAN FRANCISCO – Dry, windy weather posed an extreme wildfire risk Wednesday in Northern California, where massive blazes have destroyed hundreds of homes and killed or injured dozens of people.
The National Weather Service issued a red-flag warning for extreme fire danger from 5 a.m. through Friday morning. Amid bone-dry conditions and wind gusts possibly hitting 55 mph, Pacific Gas & Electric warned that it might cut power to as many as 54,000 customers in 24 counties.
The dangerous weather conditions developed after most of the huge fires that erupted over the past eight weeks have been fully or significantly contained and skies once stained orange were blue again.
Preemptive electricity cuts are a strategy aimed at preventing fires from being started by power lines that have been damaged or knocked down by high winds. “We really view it as a last resort option,” said Mark Quinlan, PG&E’s incident commander.
The utility deployed generators to keep electricity flowing in areas that might lose power, Quinlan said.
About 200 people in Humboldt County in the far northern part of the state could lose power Thursday afternoon as winds affect that area, PG&E said.
All power should be restored by late Friday night, the utility said.
The outages would include regions hit by massive wildfires. The Glass Fire that ravaged the wine country of Napa and Sonoma counties was nearly surrounded after destroying more than 1,500 homes and other buildings.
PG&E said it could cut power to more than 9,200 customers in Napa and about 1,800 in Sonoma.
Farther north, the Zogg Fire in Shasta and Tehama counties was 99% contained. Four people died in that blaze. PG&E said its cuts could affect nearly 4,700 customers in Shasta and about 1,200 in Tehama.
More than 8,500 wildfires have burned more than 6,406 square miles in California since the start of the year – mostly since mid-August. Thirty-one people died, and more than 9,200 buildings were destroyed.
Studies have linked bigger wildfires in America to climate change from the burning of coal, oil and gas. Scientists said climate change has made California much drier, meaning trees and other plants are more flammable.
PG&E said last month that it would shorten power shutoffs after receiving widespread criticism last year when it turned off electricity to 2 million people to prevent its equipment from sparking wildfires.
PG&E’s aging equipment has sparked some of the state’s largest wildfires, including the fire that destroyed much of the town of Paradise and killed 85 in 2018.
The utility pleaded guilty in June to 84 felony counts of involuntary manslaughter; one death was ruled a suicide. The utility paid $25.5 billion in settlements to cover the losses from power-line-sparked catastrophes.
Wildfires will remain a threat in California indefinitely.
“We have had a historic fire season this year,” PG&E meteorologist Scott Strenfel said. “We are and will continue to be in the peak of fire season until the rain and snow returns. And all of us here hope that it returns sooner rather than later.”