PG&E on Wednesday evening began shutting off power to customers in parts of 24 California counties, including seven in the Bay Area. The latest round of Public Safety Power Shutoffs was expected to impact about 53,000 customers in total.
In the Bay Area, about 22,000 customers in those seven counties — Alameda, Contra Costa, Napa, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano and Sonoma — were slated to have their power turned off as the region faces high fire danger due to gusty winds and dry conditions.
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The outages were a "last resort option," said Mark Quinlan, PG&E's incident commander.
"These are challenging times. Not only are we right in the peak of the wildfire season… many of us are working from home, schooling from home as well," he said. "We recognize that hardships are introduced when we shut off power."
The breakdown below shows the scope of the power shutoffs in the Bay Area, including a window for when the power was expected to go out.
- Alameda County: 5,326 customers (8 p.m. to 1 a.m.)
- Contra Costa County: 929 customers (8 p.m. to 1 a.m.)
- Napa County: 9,221 customers (6 p.m. to 9 p.m.)
- San Mateo County: 1,687 customers (8 p.m. to 10 p.m.)
- Santa Clara County: 2,210 customers (8 p.m. to 10 p.m.)
- Solano County: 871 customers (6 p.m. to 9 p.m.)
- Sonoma County: 1,777 customers (6 p.m. to 9 p.m.)
PSPS Outages Map
An outage planned by PG&E will affect residents in 24 counties. See if your area may be affected with this general outline. Click on each community center to see more information on operating hours and utilities, as well as directions.
To see if your home or business will be affected by the shut down, look up your address here.
Data: PG&E
If you'd like to see if your address will be affected by power shutoffs, you can use PG&E's address lookup tool here.
A Red Flag Warning for the North Bay valleys and mountains, East Bay valleys and hills, and the Santa Cruz Mountains is in effect through 11 a.m. Friday, according to the National Weather Service.
PG&E said it anticipates restoring power to impacted customers by 10 p.m. Friday if weather conditions permit.
PG&E's aging equipment has sparked several major fires in recent years, including a 2018 blaze that destroyed much of the town of Paradise and killed 85 people. The utility pleaded guilty in June to 84 felony counts of involuntary manslaughter -- one death was ruled a suicide -- and paid $25.5 billion in settlements to cover the losses from that and other recent power line-sparked catastrophes.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
