California utility shutting off power to 51K customers to prevent wildfires

Pacific Gas & Electric on Tuesday evening said it has begun shutting down power to around 51,000 California customers to prevent wildfires.

The shutoffs will affect around 18 counties in northern California, including the “Sierra Nevada foothills, the North Coast, the North Valley and the North Bay mountains,” according to a press release from PG&E.

The company cited “dry offshore winds, extreme to exceptional drought conditions and extremely dry vegetation” as reasons for this precautionary measure. PG&E is predicting that “all clears” will be occur around Wednesday afternoon.

“With these high winds and extremely dry climate conditions, we are focused on customer and community safety. It’s never an easy decision to turn off the power for safety, but it is the right thing to do to keep everyone safe,” said PG&E Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Officer Marlene Santos.

“We understand how disruptive and inconvenient it is to lose power. The sole focus of a PSPS is to keep our customers safe. As soon as this extreme weather passes, our crews will be inspecting our equipment and the vegetation around it, making repairs and restoring power as soon as it’s safe to do so,” Santos added.

The company had announced earlier on Tuesday that it expected to carry out preemptive shutoffs in order to reduce the risk of wildfires. At the time, it was reported that the shutoffs would affect around 48,000 customers in 16 different counties.

The Dixie fire in northern California has burned for the past 34 days and is only 31 percent contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The counties where the Dixie fire is currently burning —  Butte, Plumas and Lassen — will all be affected by PG&E’s shutoffs.