Ahead of a weeklong heat wave that will leave Sacramento and most of Northern California in sweltering temperatures, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. is warning. that there may be a serious fire hazard in several areas for the first time this year, which means that the power supply will have to be disconnected for safety reasons. This is to prevent the utility’s equipment from causing forest fires.
On Sunday, officials with the Oakland-based company said its meteorologists were predicting an “increased” risk for closures in parts of eight Northern California counties: Colusa, Glenn, Lake, Napa, Shasta, Solano, Tehama and Yolo. The power shutoffs are the first outages undertaken this year by PG&E, which has come under constant criticism in recent years for engineering power shutoffs to ward off fires caused by its equipment.
The affected areas and the timing of the closures correspond with the National Weather Service’s red flag warning, which was issued for much of Northern California between 11 p.m. Monday and 8 p.m. Tuesday. Those dangerous conditions create an increased risk of damage to the electrical system, which can cause fires fueled by dry vegetation.
When and where do power outages occur?
High fire risk conditions are expected to persist through the Fourth of July holiday, as Sacramento and the surrounding region could reach 110 degrees on Wednesday. The weather service has also issued an extreme heat warning for the entire Sacramento Valley from 11 a.m. Monday through 8 p.m. Saturday, as temperatures are expected to exceed 105 degrees throughout the weekend.
In an update, PG&E officials said as many as 12,000 customers could lose power beginning at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday under the so-called PSPS. The largest group of homes and businesses that could lose power is in Shasta County, where as many as 8,800 ratepayers could be knocked offline.
Maps from the utility showed outages were planned in the western reaches of Yolo County, including Winters and homes south of Putah Creek, as well as in Rumsey, Guinda and around the Cache Creek area. PG&E estimated that about 200 customers would be in the dark if the outage occurred.
Other areas with a potential PSPS include homes on the western edge of the valley west of Willows, Orland, Corning, Red Bluff and Anderson. A large area of potential closures also surrounds the Redding area, along Highway 299 and in the Bella Vista and Palo Cedro areas.
As many as 1,800 customers in western Tehama County could be without power; Colusa County (550 customers) and Glenn (361) also had significant potential for power outages. All other counties would see fewer than 100 customers affected.
Restoring power to affected customers would likely take 12 daylight hours after the weather becomes “safe.” PG&E crews must inspect the de-energized lines to make sure they weren’t damaged during the shutdown. PG&E maps indicate that could happen as early as 2 p.m. Wednesday.
Conditions are ripe for wildfires, PG&E says
PG&E officials said in a weather update Sunday that in addition to the high temperatures beginning Monday evening, there will also be a period of gusty northerly winds primarily across the northern and western Sacramento Valley and adjacent foothills.
Weather service forecasters and PG&E officials say winds could gust to 30 mph in some spots along the western tier of the Valley — from Solano County north to Red Bluff — “although local gusts of 35 to 40 mph will be possible,” PG&E said.
PG&E’s forecasts are particularly concerned about conditions on the ground, noting that “grass crops have hardened off at lower elevations and dead fuel moisture levels are at seasonal drought levels.” That means the combination of hot air, strong winds and tinder-dry grasses common in the Valley and its foothills could lead to fast-moving fires.
The utility said in its weather update that it has already switched 624 of the 788 circuits in the affected areas to “enhanced powerline safety settings,” which adjust the sensitivity of the equipment to shut down more quickly if a problem is detected. According to PG&E, these buffers ensure that lines are automatically turned off “within one-tenth of a second” if vegetation or flames interfere with sagging lines or overheated transformers. Officials touted in a report to state regulators that such equipment settings reduced equipment ignitions by 68% in 2022.
The utility blamed equipment for causing wildfires
PG&E has imposed planned power shutoffs in recent years due to terrible wildfire weather. The utility’s equipment is blamed for causing some of the worst fires in state history, including the 2018 Camp Fire that destroyed Paradise, and PG&E Corp. has been found liable for billions of dollars worth of destruction.
The utility has been blamed for starting more than 30 wildfires since 2017, fires that have destroyed more than 23,000 homes and businesses and killed more than 100 people.
Last year, the company designed two PSPS events from four possible scenarios the company identified, according to company filings with the California Public Utilities Commission. In late August, the company turned off power in the same “footprint” as a result of Tuesday’s potential outage, affecting nearly 4,000 ratepayers of the 8,400 notified of a possible outage from Yolo and Napa counties north of Shasta County. A second PSPS event three weeks later affected about 1,200 customers, about one in five who could have been affected, in a smaller footprint in Tehama, Lake and Napa counties, according to the documents.
PG&E customers enrolled in the Medical Baseline program who have not verified that they received a notice of the potential shutoffs will be visited at home by a PG&E employee, if possible, the utility has said for previous outages. Officials said the primary focus will be on customers who rely on electricity to run critical life-sustaining equipment.
The utility is also expected to open several “community centers” in the blackout areas on Tuesday so customers can cool off in air conditioning, get free bottled water and snacks and charge their phones. PG&E maps indicated these centers would be open at 8 a.m. Tuesday in Redding, Anderson, Elk Creek and Stonyford, among others.
More information about the PSPS and how to receive notifications can be found on the PG&E website.
