NORTHERN CALIFORNIA — Pacific Gas and Electric said Monday that it may need to cut power as part of a public safety power shut-off later this week in seven counties, including a small number of its customers in Lake County.
The company said its meteorologists and operations professionals are monitoring a potential dry, northerly windstorm forecast to start early Wednesday morning.
The Sacramento Office of the National Weather Service has issued a fire weather watch from Tuesday evening through Wednesday evening.
Given the windstorm and current conditions including dry vegetation, PG&E has begun sending advanced notifications to customers — via text, email and automated phone call — in targeted areas where PG&E may need to proactively turn power off for safety to reduce the risk of wildfire from energized power lines.
The potential public safety power shut-off, or PSPS, event starting around 3 a.m. on Wednesday could affect approximately 8,000 customers in small portions of seven counties, mostly on the west side of the Sacramento Valley.
The potential shut-off is currently expected to affect approximately 8,000 customers across the following counties:
• Colusa County: 531 customers, 38 Medical Baseline customers.
• Glenn County: 365 customers, 19 Medical Baseline customers.
• Lake County: 50 customers, three Medical Baseline customers.
• Napa County: Eight customers, zero Medical Baseline customers.
• Shasta County: 3,812 customers, 356 Medical Baseline customers.
• Tehama County: 3,249 customers, 352 Medical Baseline customers.
• Yolo County: 30 customers, one Medical Baseline customer.
Customers can look up their address online to find out if their location is being monitored for the potential safety shut-off at www.pge.com/pspsupdates.
Conditions may change. As such, PG&E’s in-house meteorologists, as well as its Emergency Operations Center and its Hazard Awareness & Warning Center, continue to closely monitor conditions.
PG&E representatives will make individual, in-person visits, when possible, to customers enrolled in the company’s Medical Baseline Program who do not verify they have received these important safety communications, with a primary focus on customers who rely on electricity for critical life-sustaining equipment.
PG&E initiates PSPS when the fire-weather forecast is severe enough that people’s safety, lives homes and businesses may be in danger of wildfires.
Factors that can lead to a shut-off include low humidity levels, generally 30% and below; a forecast of high winds, particularly sustained winds above 19 miles per hour and wind gusts above 30 to 40 miles per hour; the condition of dry material on the ground and low moisture content of vegetation; and a red flag warning declared by the National Weather Service; real-time ground observations from PG&E crews working across the service area; and the company’s decision-making process also accounts for the presence of trees tall enough to strike power lines.
PG&E: Small power shut-off may be necessary Wednesday in seven counties
- LAKE COUNTY NEWS REPORTS
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