Power cut for thousands to fight fires
PG&E calls its move in California ‘last resort’
LOS ANGELES — The nation’s largest electric utility has temporarily shut off power to thousands of Northern California residents to prevent wildfires sparked by electrical equipment as the state braces for potentially strong winds and extreme fire weather conditions.
Pacific Gas & Electric shut off power Sunday to about 11,000 customers mostly in Butte County, said Angela Lombardi, a company spokeswoman. An additional 54,000 customers could see power shut off later in the day due to hot, dry weather and high winds in the forecast, she said, adding residents in 16 counties could be affected.
The shutoffs are only called “as a last resort,” Lombardi said.
The shutoffs come as fire-weary California prepared for a new siege of hot, dry weather with potentially strong winds that could cause power lines to arc and spark new blazes in parched vegetation that’s ready to burn.
Red flag warnings for extreme fire weather conditions were issued for the northern and central areas of the state from late Saturday to Monday, the National Weather Service said.
A new wildfire broke out Sunday in Napa County, prompting the evacuation of residents before dawn. The swift-moving fire is near several wineries and has burned
1.6 square miles, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Amy Bordeau, of Calistoga, told the paper she woke up to fire alerts and social media messages from worried friends and grabbed the same bag she recently used when evacuating from another fire.
“It’s a bit traumatizing,” she said. “I feel like I’m constantly fight or flight.”
This year, more than 8,000 California wildfires have scorched 5,600 square miles, destroyed more than 7,000 buildings and killed 26 people. Most of the loss has occurred since a frenzy of dry lightning strikes in mid-august ignited a massive outbreak of fires. The causes of other fires remain under investigation, and authorities said one was caused by a pyrotechnic device at a gender reveal event.
PG&E has said it is striving to narrow the scope and shorten the length of power cuts after being sharply criticized for intentional outages last year that affected millions of people and sometimes lasted for days.
The utility had previously announced power would be cut to 89,000 customers this weekend but said in a statement the shutoffs were scaled back due to changes in weather forecasts.
About 40 percent of the shutoffs are now expected to affect customers in El Dorado County. The company has opened community resource centers to help customers who lose power.
Lombardi said PG&E hopes to be able to inspect equipment once the windy weather subsides Monday. After that point, the company aims to subsequently restore power to customers within 12 daylight hours, she said.