Powerful winds in California prompted a massive power shutoff to nearly a million customers while wildfires raged across parts of the state.
“The Red Flag fire weather conditions combined with dry fuels will bring the potential for very rapid fire spread and extreme fire behavior with any new ignitions Sunday night into Monday,” the National Weather Service in Los Angeles said.
The Tick Fire, which is burning near Santa Clarita, had destroyed at least 16 structures by late Saturday and was threatening about 10,000 more, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said.
Farther north, at least five evacuation centers opened across Sonoma County as strong winds fan the flames of the Kincade Fire.
Winds and fire activity had picked up by Sunday morning, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office said. More than 97,000 people have been ordered to evacuate.
“You need to leave now while you still can,” the sheriff said.
PG&E shuts off power
In an attempt to avoid any more catastrophic wildfires, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) began shutting down the power of about 940,000 customers Saturday night, citing a historic wind event in northern and central parts of the state.
The number of actual people without power will be higher, since electric customers include houses and businesses.
The company had announced the shutoff earlier this week, citing their forecasts of dangerous wind conditions.
Customers in portions of 38 counties in the Northern and Southern Sierra Foothills, the North Bay and Mendocino, the Bay Area, the Central Coast and the Central Valley, will be left in the dark, the company said.
Paradise, which was devastated by last year’s deadly Camp Fire, is also among the areas to be left in the dark.
“This (public safety power shutoff) action is based on forecasts of historic dry, hot and windy weather that poses a significant risk for damage and sparks on the electric system and rapid wildfire spread,”PG&E said in a statement.
In San Jose, City Manager Kip Harkness told reporters the city has a plan in place for the outage, which could affect about 90,000 in the area. Officials said the city has activated a “power vulnerability plan” that has been months in the works.
Over the last weeks, the PG&E has been enacting preventative shutoffs all over northern and central California, but this could be the largest.
Earlier this year, the company warned it could proactively cut power more often during risky weather conditions as a means of preventing wildfires caused by high winds downing live power equipment. The preventive power outages may continue for a decade, the utility’s chief executive said in a statement this month.
This all comes after the company came under fire and agreed to pay billions for its role in the 2018 Camp Fire — California’s deadliest and most destructive blaze.
The company previously said it’s “probable” that its equipment started the fireand an investigation by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection found the company responsible for the fire.
Two fires scorch thousands of acres
The Kincade Fire had scorched more than 29,955 acres by late Saturday and was only 10% contained, Cal Fire Chief Jonathan Cox said.
About 77 structures have been destroyed –31 of which were residential — and 14 have been damaged, Cox said.
“Fire’s not something you can fight,” Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick said. “You cannot fight this, please evacuate.”
In the southern part of the state, the Tick Fire was 55% contained and had burned through about 4,615 acres, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said.
The department saidit was preparing for more wind Sunday and Monday.
