San Francisco
Pacific Gas & Electric began turning off power to more than 50,000 Northern California customers Wednesday evening as dry, windy conditions renewed the threat of fire in a season already marked by deadly, devastating blazes.
The utility announced that it had begun cutting power to up to 33,000 customers, with about another 20,000 to follow in a few hours.
The shutoffs will affect portions of nearly two dozen counties, mostly in the Sierras and San Francisco Bay Area, and could last 48 hours.
Preemptive electricity cuts are a strategy aimed at preventing fires from being started by power lines that have been damaged or knocked down amid high winds. PG&E equipment sparked several massive blazes that destroyed tens of thousands of homes and killed more than 100 people since 2017.
“These are challenging times. Not only are we right in the peak of the wildfire season … many of us are working from home, schooling from home as well. We recognize that hardships are introduced when we shut off power,” said Mark Quinlan, PG&E’s incident commander. “It’s our last resort option.”
The figure represents about 1% of PG&E’s 5.1 million customers. The nation’s largest utility said last month that it is using smarter and shorter power shutoffs after receiving widespread criticism from the public and regulators last year when it turned off electricity to 2 million people to prevent its equipment from sparking wildfires.
A second shutoff for around 700 customers was expected Thursday afternoon in far northern counties as winds were expected to arrive there.—AP
