PG&E warns of possible Bay Area power shutoffs, Red Flag Warning in effect
NAPA, Calif. - Pacific Gas & Electric began shutting off power in parts of Northern California on Thursday amid dry and windy weather conditions.
According to the latest PG&E outage map, shutoffs have already started in parts of Tehama, Glenn, Shasta and Colusa counties.
The Bay Area is under a Red Flag Warning that started at 11 p.m. Thursday, and continues through Saturday at 5 p.m.
Many Bay Area counties are under what PG&E calls a Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) warning through Saturday, aligning with the Red Flag Warning. PG&E says it may shut off power in these Bay Area counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Napa, Santa Clara, Solano and Sonoma.
"The forecast continues to indicate that dry and gusty winds are expected to develop later today through Saturday for portions of the PG&E service territory, and as a result all counties under consideration for PSPS have been moved to PSPS Warning status," PG&E says on its website.
The PSPS warnings also include Santa Cruz, Lake, Monterey and Yolo counties, plus other northern and central California counties.
In Dublin, more than 6,900 customers went without power on Thursday afternoon, though the outage was not categorized as a PSPS.
PG&E told KTVU the Dublin outage was related to EPSS, or Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings. They say the cause is under investigation, but that the EPSS was activated. This kind of activation can often come from debris in the area or a tree touching a powerline, PG&E said.
"For the safety of our customers and communities, we have enhanced safety settings on our powerlines that automatically turn off power within one-tenth of a second, or faster, if a wildfire hazard is detected. These settings are known as Enhanced Powerline Safety Setting or EPSS," the utility said. The utility said the power was estimated to be restored by 10 p.m.
Meanwhile, the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services said they have mobilized statewide, in preparation for weather-related fire danger. The Bay Area is included in the additional fire engines and other resources being sent throughout the state's northern counties.
"Cal OES has strategically prepositioned fire engines and personnel in multiple counties to be able to respond if needed," the state agency said in a press release.
A sign of the times in the North Bay
"It's a sign of the time. You have to be prepared for everything these days," said Anna Southerland. She and her husband John braced for the planned power outage in their Sonoma neighborhood.
"As an insulin dependent diabetic, without a generator, to me, it's a critical thing," John Southernland said. "I have to get some ice and put my insulin on ice."
Still, the couple understands the rationale behind PG&E's planned outages. With high winds and dry conditions expected across much of the Bay Area through Saturday, the conditions are ripe for a wildfire.
In San Rafael, representatives from fire departments across the North Bay are coming together ahead of the weather.
"I'm hoping for a nice quiet night and a nice quiet couple of days, but we're here just in case, and we're ready if we need to be," said Jeff Davidson, North Bay incident management liason.
He helps coordinate with first responders in the region to expedite any response to a fire or other emergency.
"Rather than looking for resources, we have them sort of in our back pockets, so we preposition engines and crews, dozers, aircraft, incident management teams in geographical areas so we can be quicker to respond," said Santa Rosa Fire Marshal and Division Chief Paul Lowenthal. "We've really been asking residents over the last couple of days to be prepared for this. And that includes everything from clearing leaves out of gutters to making sure that the go bags are ready, and people have a plan in the event that a fire breaks out and you need to evacuate."
For those in the North Bay who are affected by the power shutoffs, a number of community resource centers have been set up with charging stations, blankets and snacks. In Sonoma, there is one at the First Congregational Church on West Spain Street.
Driest time of year - Vigilance in the East Bay hills
The Red Flag Warning has forced the closure of some roads and late into the night, firefighters patrolled in the Oakland Hills, looking for any sparks or signs of flames.
We went to Joaquin Miller Park in the Oakland Hills. The park will be closed until noon on Friday because of the Red Flag Warning, but that could change as the National Weather Service releases updated forecasts.
While the park may have the appearance of a gorgeous wooded area, fire crews see tons of dried out fuels with the potential to burn. It's the driest time of year.
Multiple fire agencies are preparing for what could be a busy night in Alameda County.
Kent Carlin, Alameda County Fire Battalion Chief, said wind and low humidity are the main factors here. Winds could see 60 mph gusts. Fire crews say one spark could be catastrophic.
"Tonight we'll be closing Grizzly Peak Boulevard from Centennial to Skyline. It's common practice for us whenever we have Red Flag Warnings or on the Fourth of July because that is an area of dense vegetation for us, so if we have a fire start in that area, that could become a huge problem for us," said Anthony Sanders Oakland Fire Department's battalion chief.
The fire that sparked in the Oakland Hills in 1991 still has an impact on how fire crews handle red-flag conditions. People we spoke to say fire is often in the back of their minds as they enjoy the East Bay outdoors.
Henry Schroder and his friend Eitan Schotland ride the trails near Joaquin Miller Park often. They'd be sad to see it lost to a preventable fire.
"Having this park is so important to me and to see it catch on fire would be really (unfortunate)," said Schotland, a Bentley High School Student. "I love how green it is up here because the fog comes in, it stays pretty lush here all the time and keeping that green shelter would be really nice."
Mountain bikers weren't the only ones in the park ahead of the closure.
The new Mr. and Mrs. Michael and Katie Stone held their wedding in the park on Thursday. They said they felt lucky they got hitched ahead of the red flag warning closures.
"We're from Southern California, and so i think...fires are something, we've lived in California our whole life, and fires are something that we are very cognizant about," said Katie.
The Oakland Fire Department is patrolling the Oakland hills with two additional engine companies. That's eight additional firefighters in total, but they said they cannot prevent fires alone.
"The community can help by not having any open flame bonfires, campfires, that sort of thing. Any sort of ignition source we want to keep people from doing that," said Sanders.
Potential Bay Area power shutoffs
The latest Public Safety Power Shutoffs could impact an estimated 20,000 customers across 24 counties. PG&E released the following list with the number of estimated customers affected in each county.
- Alameda County: 422 customers, 24 Medical Baseline customers
- Butte County: 1,153 customers, 87 Medical Baseline customers
- Colusa County: 606 customers, 30 Medical Baseline customers
- Contra Costa County: 973 customers, 59 Medical Baseline customers
- Fresno County: 1,235 customers, 75 Medical Baseline customers
- Glenn County: 508 customers, 21 Medical Baseline customers
- Lake County: 1,088 customers, 83 Medical Baseline customers
- Madera County: 1,310 customers, 109 Medical Baseline customers
- Mariposa County: 640 customers, 15 Medical Baseline customers
- Mendocino County: 13 customers, 4 Medical Baseline customers
- Merced County: 27 customers, 0 Medical Baseline customers
- Monterey County: 597 customers, 21 Medical Baseline customers
- Napa County: 3,103 customers,135 Medical Baseline customers
- Plumas County: 316 customers, 11 Medical Baseline customers
- San Benito County: 24 customers, 0 Medical Baseline customers
- Santa Barbara County: 155 customers, 4 Medical Baseline customers
- Santa Clara County: 663 customers, 41 Medical Baseline customers
- Santa Cruz County: 132 customers, 8 Medical Baseline customers
- Shasta County: 2,407customers, 194 Medical Baseline customers
- Solano County: 1,838 customers, 159 Medical Baseline customers
- Sonoma County: 1,010 customers, 23 Medical Baseline customers
- Stanislaus County: 27 customers, 0 Medical Baseline customers
- Tehama County: 2,056 customers, 199 Medical Baseline customers
- Yolo County: 262 customers, 15 Medical Baseline customers
Fire departments in the Bay Area are staffing up and keeping a close eye on the dangerous weather conditions.
As the weather rapidly changes, new sophisticated technologies are playing a huge role, with almost 1,600 weather stations and 600 to 1,000 cameras all over PG&E's territory.
"Using our high resolution weather models that are coming in multiple times per day, four times per day. That's also coupled with the machine learning models that we're getting from our individual weather stations. And so the scope is constantly refined," said Scott Strenfel, a meteorologist with PG&E.
In Angwin, residents are preparing for potential shutoffs with as many as 2,700 customers affected.