Thousands of people across the Bay Area on Thursday were bracing to potentially lose their power amid high fire danger.
PG&E said the possible Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) could be its largest in three years.
"Due to elevated wildfire risk conditions, we are preparing for a possible Public Safety Power Shutoff event across portions of the Bay Area starting as early as today, this afternoon, and extending into the weekend," PG&E official Jake Zigelman said.
Around 6:30 p.m., Solano, Sonoma, and Napa counties were de-energized. According to the latest figures, around 11,746 customers in Solano, Sonoma, Napa, Shasta, Tehama, Colusa, Glenn, Grindstone and Middletown Rancheria, Yolo, Lake and Mendocino counties are impacted by the outage.
It's unclear how many customers in the Bay Area are currently impacted.
PG&E said 8,000 Bay Area customers may experience a power shutoff. The utility said low humidity, strong winds and lots of dry vegetation could prompt the shutoffs.
"We’ll be evaluating those conditions in near real time and making a series of go-no-go decisions on an hourly basis over the course of today and potentially into the evening," Zigelman said.
Visit pge.com/pspsupdates to see if your location could be impacted by the utility's power shutoffs.
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