PG&E Announces Possible Third Consecutive Power Shutdown Tuesday
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Officials with Pacific Gas and Electric have announced a possible third consecutive Public Safety Power Shutdown due to dangerous fire conditions that would affect customers in 32 counties starting Tuesday.
The announcement came Sunday afternoon as the Bay Area faced dangerous high-wind conditions and multiple fires erupting across the region in addition to the massive wind-whipped Kincade Fire that has burning in Sonoma County since Wednesday night.
- LATEST ON: KINCADE FIRE • PG&E POWER SHUTOFFS
PG&E's meteorological team is monitoring a new, potentially widespread, strong and dry wind event forecast for Tuesday morning through the middle of the day Wednesday for Northern California, according to a press release issued Sunday. The weather system is forecast to impact Kern County late Tuesday night through Thursday morning.
The Tuesday event will impact approximately 32 counties across the Northern and Southern Sierra, the North Bay, the Bay Area, the Santa Cruz mountains, the North Coast and Kern County. The weather event is a separate system from the one that triggered the current Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) event.
This is the third consecutive significant wind event in the space of a week. PG&E said Sunday evening that some 600,000 customers were estimated to lose power.
Some customers already affected by the current PSPS may remain without power until after Wednesday.
Due to the potential extreme weather conditions, PG&E is considering proactively turning off power for safety. Portions of counties that may be impacted include, but are not limited to: Alameda, Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Glenn, Humboldt, Kern, Lake, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Tehama, Trinity, Tuolumne, Yolo and Yuba.
PG&E will be issuing additional information about the PSPS in terms of exactly what areas of those counties will be affected closer to the date.
The utility said that about 3% of customers' power was restored during a Sunday evening press conference.
SMART Train announced Sunday that it was canceling Monday train service due to the PSPS impact on local city traffic signal systems.
