PG&E Power Shutoffs: Bay Area Counties List Expanded

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA — As PG&E continues to monitor the weather forecast to determine if it will shut off power again this week in an attempt to prevent wildfires, the number of counties in the shutoff zone has increased. If power is cut, it will be the sixth Public Safety Power Shutoff this year.

The wind is expected to be a problem on Wednesday. The National Weather Service has issued a Fire Weather Watch that includes the North Bay, the East Bay hills and the Diablo Range in the East Bay.

In a Facebook post on Sunday, the company said, "PG&E may turn off power to approximately 250,000 customers in portions of 19 counties in the Sierra Foothills, North Valley and North Bay. Other parts of the Bay Area are not expected to be included in a Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS)."

The counties are Butte, Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Solano, Sonoma, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Yolo and Yuba.

However, on Monday the list was expanded to 22 counties with Alameda, Contra Costa and Marin added to the list. The counties impacted in the Bay Area along with the number of customers expected to be in the dark:

• Alameda, 12,200
• Contra Costa, 23,230
• Marin, 23,440
• Napa, 11,180
• Solano, 1,970
• Sonoma, 39,940

In Alameda County, some residents in the cities of Berkeley, Oakland and San Leandro will go dark.

In Contra Costa County, the outage will impact 23,230 customers in Canyon, El Sobrante, Lafayette, Moraga, Orinda, Pinole, Pleasant Hill and Richmond.

PG&E's equipment has been responsible for starting multiple deadly fires in the North Bay over the past several years, destroying millions of dollars worth of property. Financial claims have sent the company into bankruptcy.

The National Weather Service reports that the Fire Weather Watch will last until 7 a.m. Thursday.

— Patch editor Bea Karnes and Bay City News contributed to this story

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