A few hundred East Bay households are among those PG&E says could lose power on purpose this weekend, as the utility weighs shutting off lines to lower the risk of a wind-driven wildfire.
PG&E said Thursday its operations and meteorology teams are watching a wind event expected to raise fire danger in parts of Northern and Central California from Friday afternoon into Monday. About 12,200 customers in portions of 17 counties could be affected if the utility goes ahead with a Public Safety Power Shutoff, known as a PSPS.
Who is on the list
In the Bay Area, the utility's county breakdown lists 386 customers in Alameda County, 284 in Solano County and 15 in Napa County. The biggest numbers are farther north, with 6,797 customers in Shasta County and 2,351 in Tehama County. Other counties under watch are Butte, Colusa, Fresno, Glenn, Kern, Kings, Lake, Merced, San Benito, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo and Yolo, some with only a handful of customers.
The forecast calls for westerly gusts of 30 to 45 mph on Saturday, peaking around 55 mph in parts of the Northern Sierra, followed by north winds in the Sacramento Valley on Sunday. The Sacramento Bee noted the wind arrives with a sharp cooldown, as highs that reached the 90s earlier in the week drop into the 70s or lower.
What customers should do
PG&E said it finished notifying potentially affected customers by text, email and automated phone call on Thursday. Anyone unsure can look up their address at pge.com/pspsupdates to see whether it is being monitored. A shutoff is still only possible, and the final decision depends on conditions as they develop; actual outages can end up smaller than the initial watch area.
The company calls these shutoffs a last resort among its wildfire safeguards. If power is cut, PG&E says it will open Community Resource Centers where people can charge medical equipment and phones, get updates, and pick up water, snacks and blankets. Locations will be posted on the utility's outage center.
Households that rely on powered medical devices should have a backup plan ready before Friday afternoon. Keep phones charged, have flashlights handy instead of candles, and know how to open an electric garage door manually in case the power goes out.