PG&E says power shutoffs could come to 8 Northern California counties due to fire danger

Ahead of a weeklong heat wave that will bake Sacramento and most of Northern California in sweltering temperatures, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. is warning that critical fire danger may lead to its first public safety power shutoffs of the year in across eight counties to prevent the utility’s equipment from sparking wildfires.

On Sunday, officials of the Oakland-based company said its meteorologists were forecasting an “elevated” risk for shutoffs in parts of eight Northern California counties: Colusa, Glenn, Lake, Napa, Shasta, Solano, Tehama and Yolo. The power shutoffs are the first wildfire-safety blackouts undertaken this year by PG&E, which has come under consistent criticism for engineering power shutoffs in past years to ward off fires caused by its equipment.

The areas affected and the timing of the shutoffs correspond with the National Weather Service’s red flag warning, which was issued for a wide swath of Northern California between 11 p.m. Monday and 8 p.m. Tuesday. Those dangerous conditions produce an increased risk of damage to the electric system that could ignite fires fueled by dry vegetation, said PG&E spokeswoman Karly Hernandez.

She said that PG&E is committed to stopping wildfires and that such engineered outages are “a last resort” for the utility under such extreme conditions of hot temperatures, low humidity and strong winds.

“We initiate PSPS when the weather forecast is for such severe weather that people’s safety, lives, homes and businesses may be in danger of wildfires,” Hernandez said. “As each weather situation is unique, we carefully review various factors when deciding if power must be turned off.”

When and where will power shutoffs occur?

The high fire risk conditions are expected to continue through the July 4 holiday as Sacramento and the surrounding region could reach 110 degrees on Wednesday. The weather service also issued an excessive heat warning for all of the Sacramento Valley between 11 a.m. Monday and 8 p.m. Saturday as temperatures are expected to exceed 105 degrees through the weekend.

In an update, PG&E officials said as many as 12,000 customers could lose power beginning at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday under the so-called PSPS. The largest batch of homes and businesses that could lose power are in Shasta County, where as many as 8,800 ratepayers could be taken offline.

Maps provided by the utility showed outages were planned on the western reaches of Yolo County including Winters and homes south of…