PG&E announced that 11 Northern California counties are likely to experience a public safety power shutoff on Monday and Tuesday due to high winds and dry conditions increasing the risk of fire.
Four of these counties are in the Bay Area—Alameda, Contra Costa, Sonoma, and Napa. The other seven are Tehama, Butte, Glenn, Shasta, Trinity, Colusa, and Humboldt.
In its Saturday night report, the utility provider estimated that more than 12,000 customers will be affected by these potential power shutoffs, nearly 8,000 of which are in Shasta.
PG&E announced at 6 a.m. on Monday that it had begun shutting off power for 415 customers in Butte County and 823 customers in Shasta County.
It said its meteorologists were tracking heavy winds coming from the Pacific Northwest.
“These winds will bring elevated fire danger in the Sacramento Valley and surrounding foothills, and in elevated North Bay terrain,” PG&E said.
In a separate Monday morning update, it announced that elevated fire weather conditions would persist tonight through Tuesday morning due to offshore flow and low humidity.
PG&E anticipates it will begin patrolling for wind and restoring customers as soon as Tuesday morning and will finish Tuesday evening.
It said the decision to begin shutoffs depends on real-time weather conditions, so shutoffs could be postponed or canceled.
PG&E’s seven-day public safety power shutoff forecast shows no warnings for Wednesday onward.
