PG&E may temporarily shut off power in parts of County mid-week due to increased fire risk

in Community/Featured/Headline

PG&E is warning that it may temporarily shut off power for customers in high-fire risk areas throughout Northern and Central California, including in some areas of San Mateo County, after the National Weather Service issued a fire weather watch from Wednesday morning through Thursday afternoon.

Power could be shut off for several days starting as early as midnight Wednesday due to the forecast of a “potentially widespread, strong and dry wind event,” according to PG&E.

A PG&E map showing high-risk areas indicates about 15,000 PG&E customers in San Mateo County could be impacted in areas including Half Moon Bay, El Granada, Woodside, Moss Beach, Montara, Portola Valley, Pescadero, La Honda, Redwood City, San Gregorio, Loma Mar, San Mateo, Menlo Park, Emerald Hills, Pacifica and Princeton.

To see if your address may be impacted, visit PG&E’s Public Safety Power Shutoff event website here (Although, as of this writing, the site appears to be down).

For information on how to prepare for such an event, visit here.

Portions of nearly 30 counties in Northern and Central California that are serviced by PG&E could be impacted by the fire weather watch.

The Public Safety Power Shutoff program was launched by PG&E in the wake of devastating wildfires sparked by power lines and spread by warm, dry and windy conditions. Those factors are what led to the devastating Camp Fire in Butte County in Novemer that claimed 85 lives and destroyed 18,804 structures.