Due to increased wildfire dangers from a weather system that is bringing dry, gusty winds throughout much of the state, thousands of Californians lost power on Friday, and even more may lose power over the weekend.
Due to extreme weather and the potential of wildfire, Pacific Gas & Electric, the largest utility in the state, shut off power to almost 7,000 customers in Central and Northern California on Friday. The shutdowns started Thursday and were anticipated to last over the weekend, according to an update from PG&E.
With winds still a concern, Southern California Edison, the Southland’s biggest power provider, turned off electricity to over a thousand customers Friday morning, primarily in Santa Barbara and Kern counties. However, it warned that over 30,000 more customers would lose power until Sunday.
About the southern Santa Barbara County and neighboring areas, Kristen Lund, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Oxnard, stated, “We’re looking at elevated to brief critical fire conditions due to the windy conditions, still fairly low humidities, and the finer fuels being pretty dry.” There is a chance of a rapidly spreading fire even though the conditions in Southern California are not severe enough to warrant a red flag alert, she added.
The highest dangerous winds are from 2 to 9 p.m. today and Saturday. Staying in safe harbor is advised for boaters. Keep an eye out for blowing dust and road debris, drivers. Trees may fall and there may be isolated power outages. There is a higher chance of grass fires, so be mindful of your surroundings.l29tLdE9gN #cawxpic.twitter.com
According to Edison spokesperson Jeff Monford, the planned disruptions are a crucial public safety measure. In order to reduce the possibility of fire sparks during high-risk situations, utilities use what are known as Public Safety Power Shutoffs.
About ten years ago, the three largest utilities in the state—PG&E, SCE, and San Diego Gas & Electric—started using power shutoffs as a way to lower the danger of igniting a fire after their equipment had caused some of the deadliest and most catastrophic fires in modern history in previous years.
The investigation into the origin of the January Eaton fire, which destroyed thousands of houses and buildings in Altadena and the adjacent areas and claimed 18 lives, included SCE equipment.
According to SCE, additional outages were being contemplated for Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Kern, Inyo, Tulare, Mono, and other parts of Santa Barbara County in Southern California. Nearly 12,000 customers in 15 counties—Alameda, Contra Costa, Colusa, Fresno, Glenn, Merced, Monterey, San Benito, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, Santa Clara, Shasta, Stanislaus, Tehama, and Trinity—may experience disruptions, according to PG&E.
In certain areas of the state and throughout large regions of the American West, a red flag warning—which denotes dangerous fire weather conditions—had been issued.
The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for the Indian Wells valley region of the Mojave Desert, predicting westward winds of up to 60 mph through early Saturday in portions of northern San Bernardino, Inyo, and Kern counties. Any flames that start are likely to spread quickly, the weather agency warned.
A red flag warning was also in effect through midnight Friday in the counties of Lassen, Alpine, and Mono, which are close to the Nevada border.
Nearly all of Nevada, Utah, northern Arizona, and a large portion of Colorado were also under the critical alerts.
The weather service issued warnings about locations that may see significant fire behavior due to a combination of strong winds, low relative humidity, and warm temperatures. Steer clear of outdoor activities like target shooting, campfires, and yard work that could ignite nearby dry vegetation.
California
In response to the firestorms in January, Southern California Edison has declared that it will bury almost 150 miles of power lines in Altadena and Malibu.
The weather service had issued a number of other advisories regarding strong wind and fire concerns, the most of which lasted until Sunday, even though other locations had not yet been upgraded to a red flag warning.
The weather service had issued a high wind advisory, saying that gusty northerly winds are predicted… throughout the next several nights, over a large portion of southern Santa Barbara County and into northern L.A. County. Although winds in southern Santa Barbara County reached 60 mph on Thursday night, the weather service predicted that Friday night will see even higher gusts.
According to Lund, those circumstances would increase the likelihood of a fire.
For the most of the weekend, a wind advisory was in effect for the entire Mojave Desert. For Saturday and Sunday, a fire weather watch has been issued for a large portion of the Sacramento Valley and the northern San Joaquin Valley: According to that warning, low humidity and high winds can enable fire to spread quickly in both size and severity.
On Friday, a strong wind watch was also in effect for portions of the Santa Ynez mountains and Santa Barbara County coast, with gusts of up to 60 mph possible.
