How to resolve AdBlock issue? PG&E confirmed it is going ahead with a public safety power shutoff beginning on Monday evening affecting about 21,000 customers in three Northern California counties: Butte, Nevada and Yuba counties in the Sierra foothills.
The company said it expects to start cutting off power in those areas at 5 p.m. Monday in advance of windy, dry conditions are forecast to begin around sundown. The shutoff process is expected to take several hours.
The peak fire risk in the three-county shutoff area is forecast to last until 9 a.m. on Tuesday, PG&E said.
PG&E opened its Emergency Operations Center in San Francisco on Saturday and said it has been monitoring the weather and the evolving situation. PG&E’s meteorological team continues to monitor weather forecasts hourly, and the company has hundreds of personnel ready to respond for inspections, repairs and restoration once the weather subsides.
Based on the current forecast, PG&E said the public safety power shutoff impact footprint has been reduced to 21,000 in three counties in the Sierra foothills from an original forecast of 124,000 in nine counties in the Sierra foothills and the North Bay, an area that had included the southern portion of Lake County and nearly 13,000 customers, as Lake County News has reported.
No customers in the North Bay are expected to be affected by Monday’s public safety power shutoff, nor are customers in El Dorado, Placer and Sutter counties expected to be affected Monday, PG&E reported.
However, Lake County and its North Bay neighbors could still experience a power shutdown on Tuesday, PG&E said.
The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for a large portion of Northern California – including Lake, Butte, Colusa, Sonoma, Mendocino, Napa, Shasta, Solano, Tehama and Yolo counties – that went into effect at 1 p.m. Monday and will continue until 11 a.m. Wednesday.
The forecast calls for northerly winds that will increase this evening through Wednesday morning, reaching approximately 35 miles per hour.
Cal Fire officials said the combination of gusty winds, low humidity, and very dry fuels will result in critical fire weather conditions.
PG&E said it’s tracking that red flag warning, with critical conditions expected to begin on Tuesday evening and peak at 10 a.m. Wednesday.
Because of those fire weather conditions, PG&E said it is considering whether to initiate a second public safety power shutoff event late Tuesday morning that would impact a nine-county region in the Sierra foothills and the North Bay that includes Lake County.
If a shutdown takes place in that nine-county region, PG&E said it is anticipated to take place during the late afternoon or evening hours on Tuesday.
PG&E will make a final decision on whether to initiate a second public safety power shutoff event late Tuesday morning.
If a public safety power shutoff proceeds in that nine-county region, PG&E anticipates it will take place during the late afternoon or evening hours on Tuesday.
Cal Fire said Monday that its Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit has bolstered its firefighting resources in response to the red flag warning.
The agency said it’s added more engines, hand crews and bulldozers that will be staffed 24 hours a day, with additional emergency command center personnel and other personnel ready to fill command and control functions in the event of a major fire.
Cal Fire Unit Chief Shana Jones asked community members not to use outdoor power equipment until the red flag event has ended and even then, use as early in the day as possible to avoid the increased burning conditions during the heat of the day.
Approximately 11 percent of the fires in the Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit are caused by individuals
using equipment in and around dry vegetation, Cal Fire reported.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
