California utility cuts off power to thousands amid wildfire threat – “Humidity levels are dropping, and winds are picking up”
SAN FRANCISCO, 24 September 2019 (AP) – Thousands of people in Northern California woke up Tuesday without electricity after Pacific Gas & Electric cut power to try to prevent wildfires amid windy, dry and hot conditions.
PG&E cut electrical service to 24,000 customers in three counties in the Sierra Nevada foothills Monday evening, saying power will remain off until weather conditions improve.
The utility said it may restore service briefly on Tuesday before it cuts it Tuesday night.
Butte County is where a wildfire blamed on PG&E transmission lines killed 86 people last year and virtually leveled the town of Paradise.
PG&E warned it might expand the precautionary outages on Tuesday to six additional counties if gusty winds and hot, dry weather continue.
Thousands of others elsewhere may face power cuts as utilities seek to prevent wildfires amid hot weather expected through Thursday.
Red Flag warnings of fire danger were in effect Tuesday north and east of San Francisco, and forecasters predict a brief burst of Santa Ana winds in Southern California.
Humidity levels are dropping, and winds are picking up. The main threat is overnight when the winds pick up in the mountains and foothills.
Eric Kurth, National Weather Service forecaster
East and west of Los Angeles, nearly 90,000 Southern California Edison customers were advised they could be blacked out, but no Red Flag warnings were issued.
Strong winds, low humidity and warm temperatures were forecast in the state through Wednesday, and authorities issued an extreme fire danger warning for some areas.
Wind gusts could reach 50 mph (80 kph) in the northern Sierra and foothills, and between 30 to 40 mph (48 to 64 kph) in the Sacramento Valley and near the Pacific coast, said Eric Kurth, a forecaster with the National Weather Service.
“Humidity levels are dropping, and winds are picking up,” Kurth said. “The main threat is overnight when the winds pick up in the mountains and foothills.”
Some of the most destructive blazes in the state in the past two years were started by PG&E power lines. Winds can knock down live wires and power poles or drive trees and other vegetation into contact with them.
PG&E first cut off power preemptively last October, affecting some 87,000 customers. The move prompted complaints and demands for reimbursement.
But the utility canceled plans to shut off power ahead of the deadly Nov. 8 blaze that started near Paradise.
An investigation by Cal Fire said transmission lines owned and operated by the utility started the fire that wiped out nearly 15,000 homes. [more]
