Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) has just announced that the utility has initiated a Public Safety Power Shutoff’s (PSPS) to areas of 24 counties in Northern California.

PG&E had previously begun notifications to the following counties, alerting of the coming PSPS:  Alameda, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Humboldt, Lake, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Solano, Sonoma, Tehama, Trinity, Yolo, and Yuba.  PG&E added that a small number of customers in two tribal communities also may be affected.

PG&E said that its in-house meteorologists, as well as its Wildfire Safety Operation Center (WSOC) and Emergency Operations Center (EOC) will continue to monitor conditions closely, and additional customer notifications will be issued as the potential event materializes.

PG&E added that the outages will continue through late Friday, so there is the potential for some customers to be without power for as long as 3 days.  The National Weather Service (NWS) said that red-flag fire warnings are in effect across Northern California from the Oregon border to the Bay Area as dry winds sweep the region.

PG&E said the PSPS event would impact approximately 54,000 customers (about 162,000 people) in targeted portions of 24 counties.  PG&E said they will be working to restore power as soon as it is safe to do so — once the de-energized assets have been inspected.

The National Weather Service (NWS) said that red-flag fire warnings are in effect across Northern California from the Oregon border to the Bay Area as dry winds sweep the region.

Govreport will continue to monitor this developing situation.