Editor’s Note: As of 11 a.m. Saturday, PG&E reported the blackouts will affect approximately 940,000 customers, an increase of about 90,000 from previous estimates in portions of 36 counties. The power will be turned off in phases with Lake County’s power scheduled to be turned off around 4 p.m. Saturday.
NORTH BAY — As crews battle the growing Kincade Fire in Sonoma County and mop up smaller blazes across the Bay Area, the region is bracing for its next challenge: Possibly the biggest power shutdown yet.
The Kincade ignited late Wednesday night near Geyserville and by Friday had since ripped through 21,900 acres of remote land, forced evacuations of 2,000 people, damaged at least 49 structures and prompted a race against the clock to contain the blaze before winds pick up Saturday night.
But emergency officials in Sonoma County — along with their counterparts across much of the region — have another crisis on their hands after PG&E’s announcement of yet another “public safety power shutoff” that could begin Saturday and affect over 850,000 customers for at least 48 hours.
“We’re approaching this like a battle, and we have to really think about it as strategically as possible,” said Mark Ghilarducci, director of the state Office of Emergency Services, at a Friday press conference. “This is really sort of an unprecedented place we’re in as a state.”
In Lake County, outages are expected to be as widespread as the PG&E shutoff that began Oct. 9. According to PG&E, 37,441 customers in nearly every Lake County community could be affected, including Clearlake, Clearlake Oaks, Clearlake Park, Cobb, Finley, Glenhaven, Hidden Valley Lake, Kelseyville, Lakeport, Loch Lomond, Lower Lake, Lucerne, Middletown, Nice, Upper Lake and Witter Springs.
The shutoffs are likely to begin at around 5 p.m. Saturday, Lake County Undersheriff Chris Macedo said Friday. And PG&E doesn’t expect to issue an “all clear” for the windy weather that will prompt the shutoff until Monday after 2 p.m., meaning re-energization would not begin until after that time.
“They expect more damage with this weather event,” Macedo said, comparing it to the previous shutoff, indicating that it could take more time to turn the power back on.
At least three community resource centers, where Lake County residents can access device charging stations, bottled water, and other basics, are planned. Their locations are as follows:
- Lakeport: Konocti Vista Casino, 2755 Mission Rancheria Road
- Middletown: Twin Pine Casino & Hotel, 22223 CA-29
- Clearlake: Clearlake Senior Center, 3245 Bowers Avenue, 95422
Standard operating hours for the centers are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Shutoffs could begin Saturday across portions of 36 counties in the North Bay, the Peninsula, East Bay, Central Coast and Sierra foothills, constituting the largest blackout yet — just days after power was restored to 179,000 customers this week.
Gusts up to 80 miles per hour could whip through the North Bay peaks this weekend, while valleys in the East and North Bay will see spots of about 40 to 60 mph, said Anna Schneider, meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
Together with low humidity and high heat, the roaring wind makes for an unusually wide blanket of fire risk.
“These could be the strongest winds that the region will have seen since the Wine Country fires in 2017,” Schneider said.
Word trickled in to county agencies on Friday that possible outages could last through Monday, capped by an afternoon announcement from PG&E confirming the blackouts. Up to 65,000 customers in San Mateo County, 48,000 customers in Contra Costa County, 57,000 customers in Alameda County and 2,188 customers in Humboldt County are among those affected, officials said.
PG&E’s preliminary map includes shutoffs in heavily populated areas like the western portion of Highway 101 in San Mateo County, plus Martinez and Lafayette in the East Bay. But how many people could be affected remains up in the air as PG&E monitors weather conditions.
Cal Fire Chief Thom Porter said that having the power shut off “doesn’t change a lot of the firefight itself,” when staving off the Kincade Fire — but presents challenges for communicating with the public about evacuations and updates.
“We have critical infrastructure for firefighting that when there’s no power makes it difficult to do,” Porter said, such as fire retardant plants at air bases that need power to pump retardant into airplanes.
Fire officials had already placed generators at airports to prepare for shutoffs, Porter said. The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, meanwhile, has been preparing since early Friday morning with backup generators to keep emergency operations in play.
Some residents, meanwhile, steeled themselves to evacuate in the dark. Karen McEwen, who lives in a high-fire danger area of Healdsburg and hasn’t had power since Wednesday, said “it’s hard to get up-to-the-minute information about what’s going on” without internet.
McEwen listens to to the radio to find out where Kincade Fire is moving — but she still feels about four hours behind the news.
“The older things work better than the new things sometimes,” McEwen said.
The utility has opted to cut power in areas that will see increased wildfire dangers after its equipment was found to have ignited a series of deadly blazes over the years, including the horrific Camp Fire that killed 85 people last autumn.
The cause of the Kincade Fire remains under investigation, though PG&E on Thursday disclosed that it had found broken equipment on one of its transmission towers near the point of origin. The tower in question was not turned off during the recent power outages.
PG&E is “continuing to investigate” the cause of the fire, said CEO Bill Johnson.
But the utility’s explanations have proven paltry for Governor Gavin Newsom, who said parts of Sonoma County looked like a “war zone” after a Friday tour and blasted the utility again for failing to secure its power lines over the last decade.
“We should not have to be here,” Newsom said, attributing the rolling blackouts and wildfires to “years and years of greed, years and years of mismanagement” on the part of the utility.
The state will issue grants to counties and cities to help them deal with the impact of blackouts, paid for from a $75 million fund that was passed in this year’s budget, Newsom said.
At least $150,000 will be awarded to all 58 counties, with more funding based on county size and experiences with outages. Los Angeles, San Jose, San Diego, and Oakland will receive $500,000 each.
This weekend, the state plans to bring in a 747 jet to fight the Kincade Fire and other fires that may start around the state.
Already, hundreds of fire personnel fought to contain a handful of smaller fires. In San Mateo, the Cabrillo Fire scorched nearly 100 acres, while Marin County’s Muir Fire roared through 58 acres between Muir Beach and Stinson Beach. Over in the East Bay, the Mines Fire reached 50 acres.
Newsom said that angry Californians should direct their ire at the utility above all else.
“They simply did not do their job,” Newsom said. “It took us decades to get here, but we will get out of this mess.”
— Jason Green, Thy Vo and Aidan Freeman contributed to this report.
