PG&E shuts down power to thousands of North Bay customers due to Red Flag conditions
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- In an unprecedented move, Pacific Gas and Electric Company has shut down power to several thousands of customers in the North Bay starting Sunday night.
"There are portions of cities and towns deemed extreme fire risk, this move is to mitigate wildfire risk there and keep our customers safe," said PG&E spokesperson Deanna Contreras.
RELATED: Fire danger in the Bay Area to increase Sunday, extreme caution advised
Many local officials believe the utility had no choice after the devastating wildfires last year.
"It's going to cause some problems up here, but we're trying to avoid what happened last year," said Sonoma County Supervisor James Gore.
CalFire has not determined a cause for last year's deadly Tubbs Fire which destroyed thousands of homes across Sonoma County. But a recent CalFire report blamed PG&E equipment for a dozen wildfires in 2017 from Napa to Humbolt County.
RELATED: New PG&E policy may cut off electricity to Bay Area customers during high fire danger
PG&E says it about 415 customers in Sonoma County will be impacted, 5,700 in Napa County and approximately 11,000 in Lake County.
The City of Calistoga was advised that the planned power outages will affect approximately 2,300 customers in Calistoga.
The utility says it could take up to 24 hours or longer to restore power because crews must physically inspect power lines to ensure they are safe before they can be re-energized.
To find out if you are in an affected area click here.
The following is a full list of counties and cities that could experience some outages, according to PG&E:
