Pacific Gas and Electric Company officials were forecasting another wind event that could mean a second major electrical shutoff this week, lasting Tuesday night, Oct. 29, through Halloween morning.
The announcement came with a large portion of Northern California already trying to ride out an electrical power shutoff that started Saturday night and remained in effect as of Monday morning. High winds have been blamed for fueling several wildfires around the state.
The new event could extend to portions of 32 counties in the PG&E service area, covering the Northern and Southern Sierra, North Bay, Bay Area and Santa Cruz mountains, North Coast and Kern County.
“For those customers able to have their power restored between events, PG&E urges them to use the opportunity to charge any medical equipment, phones and other electronic devices and restock emergency kits,” the utility said in a news release.
“Some customers may continue to be impacted by the PSPS event, while others may experience power outages due to weather damage to the electric system.”
Counties that fall under the new PSPS, or Public Safety Power Shutoff, area include Alameda, Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Glenn, Humboldt, Kern, Lake, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Tehama, Trinity, Tuolumne, Yolo, and Yuba.
“The dry, windy weather pattern is expected to reach from the northern portions of PG&E’s service territory and down through the Sacramento Valley, before spreading into the central areas of the state, including the Bay Area,” the utility said.
PG&E said it will make every effort to restore power to as many customers who lost service during the weekend shutoff, but warned that “some customers who are currently out of power may remain out throughout the duration of the next potential PSPS event.”
The utility will again provide Community Resource Centers in outage areas.