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Bloomberg
Wildfire season has barely started, and PG&E Corp is already warning it could cut service in Napa County and elsewhere in Northern California to prevent power lines from sparking a blaze.
PG&E may proactively shut off electricity in several counties this weekend after the National Weather Service said fire risk was high, the San Francisco-based utility said. About 1,600 customers in Napa, Solano and Yolo counties will have power shut off, PG&E said in a separate statement. It’s coordinating with state and local agencies to prepare for any blackouts.
The warning underscores the measures PG&E may take to avoid a repeat of the past two years, when its equipment sparked large blazes including the Camp Fire, which killed 85 people and destroyed the town of Paradise. Damage claims resulting from those fires push-ed PG&E into bankruptcy, facing an estimated $30 billion in damages.
The utility plans to cut power in some areas where its equipment has been found by state investigators to have started wildfires in 2017 and 2018. Thousands of customers in the Sierra Nevada foothills and Napa, Solano and Yolo counties could be effected.
Dry winds are forecast to sweep through the Sacramento Valley, leaving about 700,000 people facing critical fire conditions, including the cities of Napa and Fairfield, according to the US Storm Prediction Center. A wider area, stretching nearly to the coast north of San Francisco, has a lesser warning in effect.
Last week, California regulators signed off on PG&E’s plan to reduce fire risk by cutting power to potentially millions of homes and businesses when winds are strong and could knock down power lines.