PG&E public safety power shutoffs planned for these California counties

FILE PHOTO

OAKLAND – With an elevated fire risk warning taking effect across Northern California starting this Thursday, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) has announced that public safety power shutoffs (PSPS) are likely for dozens of California counties.

Public safety power shutoffs are done in anticipation of strong winds affecting power lines and dry conditions creating a fire risk.

PG&E said power shutoffs are planned from. Thursday, Oct. 17, through Saturday, Oct. 19, affecting thousands of residents.

“The potential shutoff is currently expected to affect approximately 32,000 customers from 30 counties – from northernmost counties in California all the way down to Monterey County to San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties,” PG&E said in a statement.

“All the possible impacted customers have been notified about this potential PSPS.”

PG&E customers can visit www.pge.com/pspsupdates to check if their area will be impacted. This website is available in 16 languages, including Tagalog.

PG&E initiates PSPS when the fire-weather forecast is severe enough that people’s safety, lives, homes and businesses may be threatened by wildfires.

Their goal is to stop catastrophic wildfires by proactively turning off power in targeted areas when extreme weather threatens the electric grid.

“We recognize that PSPS outages create hardships for our customers and communities,” the statement said. “Our sole focus is to keep our customers safe.”

As each weather situation is unique, PG&E carefully reviews a combination of factors when deciding if power must be turned off. These factors include but are not limited to:

• Low humidity levels, generally 30 percent and below.
• A forecast of high winds, particularly sustained winds above 19 miles per hour
  and wind gusts above 30-40 miles per hour.
• Condition of dry material on the ground and low moisture content of vegetation.

The possibility of PSPS may change depending on the forecast.

As of Oct. 16, here’s the list of counties that could be affected by a PSPS. Updates are  available here.

• Alameda
• Alpine
• Amador
• Butte
• Calaveras
• Colusa
• Contra Costa
• El Dorado
• Fresno
• Glenn
• Lake
• Madera
• Mariposa
• Mendocino
• Monterey
• Napa
• Nevada
• Placer
• Plumas
• San Benito
• San Luis Obispo
• Santa Barbara
• Santa Clara
• Santa Cruz
• Stanislaus
• Tehama
• Tuolumne
• Yolo

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