PG&E cut power to parts of the Bay Area overnight Wednesday in a second phase of shutoffs aimed at reducing the risk of electrical equipment sparking wildfires amid gusty winds and dry conditions.
From Half Moon Bay to the Oakland Hills, Santa Cruz to Sonoma, people pulled out their rechargeable batteries, flashlights and generators for the shutoffs, which PG&E has said could last up to five days. Some people on social media expressed outrage over the shutoffs while others settled in to the blackout.
Jon Goldberg on Twitter pgeshutdown has reached our house in the Bay. Grateful for lanterns, bourbon & my @TMobile #4GLTE Hotspot for giving me the ability to ridicule the Dodgers despite the blackout.
Tyler K on Twitter Lights out in the hills #pgeshutdown
Small Fires Break Out in Bay Area
A fire reported in the East Bay community of Moraga about 1:00 a.m. threatened 140 building early Thursday morning in an area where power had been cut. The fire burned 40 acres and is 80% contained, Cal Fire said.
A small brush fire broke out Thursday morning on the Brisbane side of San Bruno mountain in San Mateo County. It was 30% contained, said CalFire’s San Mateo – Santa Cruz. PG&E did not cut power to that area.
Kristofer Noceda on Twitter UPDATE: Cal Fire says at least 15 acres burned, slow rate of spread in 3-alarm fire on San Bruno Mountain in Brisbane. https://t.co/EnHFKDJNNs https://t.co/GROoBb27fl
Power Shutoffs Continue Among High Winds
The utility said this second phase of shutoffs would impact about 234,000 customers, but could not give a precise number for how many had actually lost power. About 513,000 customers had their electricity lost in the first phase. Another wave of shutoffs was planned for the southernmost part of PG&E’s service area in the Central Valley on Thursday.
Overall, some 1.8 million to 2.4 million could be impacted by the cuts, experts said.
A red flag warning remains in effect for the North Bay hills and valleys, and the East Bay hills through 5 p.m. Thursday. In the Santa Cruz mountains, the red flag warning will remain in effect through 12 p.m. The National Weather Service said wind gusts peaked early Thursday morning and will decrease later in the day.
Winds will remain gusty, however, especially in the North and East Bay Hills through the afternoon.
NWS Bay Area on Twitter RED FLAG WARNING CONTINUES for the North bay mountains, East Bay hills and Santa Cruz mountains. Low humidity and gusty winds above 100 feet will continue through the day. #cawx
Lawmakers Question PG&E’s Shutoff Plan
On Tuesday afternoon — two years to the day after the deadly North Bay firestorm erupted — PG&E announced its plans to make large cuts across its service area due to conditions similar to those that spawned the 2017 fires.
Some state and Bay Area officials said they were frustrated with the shutoffs — echoing complaints from PG&E customers on social media.
State Sen. Jerry Hill sent a letter to the California Public Utilities Commission late Wednesday, calling on the commission to more aggressively regulate the shutoffs and conduct post-event reviews.
“Many questions remain unanswered as the state reels with the consequences of this decision by PG&E, chief among them is why is PG&E alone in making this decision?” Hill wrote.
Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat, said he expects lawmakers will discuss steps to make sure the decision to power down doesn’t come unilaterally from PG&E in the future.
“Powering down can be very helpful in avoiding wildfires. This isn’t about any and all blackouts. But this level of a blackout should not be a regular occurrence, and I’m concerned that PG&E will make it a regular occurrence,” Wiener said.
Why Are the Shutoffs So Widespread?
Stanford’s University Michael Wara said the shutoffs were widespread for two reasons: The weather. It’s the first time since the North Bay fires that we’ve had such a widespread offshore wind event, said Wara, director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program at Stanford’s Woods Institute for the Environment.
The other reason: “The infrastructure we have was not built with fire risk in mind. It was built to, especially in the rural parts and suburban parts of California that are most at risk today, serve customers cost effectively and to keep power rates low.”
“So you’ll have a powerline that will serve one valley and then go up and over a ridge to serve the next valley. And that means that if you have to turn that light off, you could black out both valleys in addition to the ridgetop — even though the risk is only on the ridgetop,” Wara said.
PG&E Vice President Sumeet Singh said Californians can expect more widespread power shutoffs like these in similar weather conditions as the utility continues to upgrade its infrastructure.
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