Pacific Gas & Electric Company warned Sunday night of a possible “dry offshore wind event” forecast for the coming days that could possibly lead to power shut-offs affecting as many as 39,000 customers across 16 counties, including hundreds in Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino and Lake counties in the North Bay region.
Meteorologists for PG&E are monitoring the weather conditions, which are expected to begin Tuesday and continue into Wednesday, according to a news alert issued by the San Francisco-based utility.
“Given this wind event and current conditions including extreme to exceptional drought and extremely dry vegetation, PG&E has begun sending 48-hour advance notifications to customers 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,” officials said in Sunday’s alert.
The month-old Dixie fire, which continues to rage across portions of Butte, Plumas, Tehama, and Lassen counties, which are all included in the PG&E warning, remains the largest wildfire in the country.
It has scorched 867 square miles and, as of Sunday, was 31% contained.
More than 1,000 homes and businesses have been destroyed and nearly 15,000 structures were still under threat.
The cause has not been determined. PG&E has said the fire may have been sparked when a tree fell on its power line.
Thunderstorms that moved in starting Friday didn't produce much rain but whipped up winds and generated lightning strikes across the northern Sierra where crews were battling the blaze. Extreme heat returned Sunday with temperatures that topped off at 100 degrees.
PG&E said the majority of customers —about 27,000— that could be affected should power shut-offs become necessary are in Butte and Shasta counties.
Nevertheless, its in-house meteorologists, as well as its Wildfire Safety Operations Center and Emergency Operations Center, continue to closely monitor conditions.
“We will share additional customer notifications as conditions evolve,” the utility said.
Customer notifications—via text, email and automated phone call— about possible shut-offs began Sunday evening.
Customers can look up their address online to find out if their location is being monitored for the potential safety shutoff at www.pge.com/pspsupdates.
The potential shutoff is currently expected to affect approximately 39,000 customers across the following counties:
- Butte County: 13,841 customers, 1,366 Medical Baseline customers
- Glenn County: 17 customers, 2 Medical Baseline customers
- Humboldt County: 643 customers, 13 Medical Baseline customers
- Lake County: 2,727 customers, 184 Medical Baseline customers
- Lassen County: 65 customers, 7 Medical Baseline customers
- Mendocino County: 239 customers, 15 Medical Baseline customers
- Napa County: 1,804 customers, 87 Medical Baseline customers
- Plumas County: 778 customers, 27 Medical Baseline customers
- Shasta County: 14,027 customers, 1,239 Medical Baseline customers
- Sierra County: 1,035 customers, 30 Medical Baseline customers
- Solano County: 71 customers, 3 Medical Baseline customers
- Sonoma County: 106 customers, 1 Medical Baseline customer
- Tehama County: 2,856 customers, 219 Medical Baseline customers
- Trinity County: 426 customers, 21 Medical Baseline customers
- Yolo County: 100 customers, 4 Medical Baseline customers
- Yuba County: 531 customers, 49 Medical Baseline customers.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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