'At the mercy of PG&E': Solano County residents scramble to prepare for planned power outages
SOLANO COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- Approximately 25,000 PG&E customers are scheduled to lose power Monday morning.
Solano County is the second county on PG&E's list with the largest number of customers who will be impacted by the latest PSPS event.
RELATED: PG&E warns of possible power shutoff for 22 counties, 25K customers in California starting Monday
Charlie Beck is getting work done with the last hours of electricity before he wakes up to a dark house.
"It's unfortunate that we are in a total underground area and there are no overhead lines in this area at all, and yet we are going to lose power," said Beck.
The longest PG&E shutoff he has experienced lasted 90 hours. This time he is ready. A month ago, he bought a generator.
"I just bought the gasoline and put in the oil in it and fired it up this afternoon. It's all ready to go if the power goes off. It's supposed to go off at six in the morning and maybe until tomorrow evening," said Beck.
PG&E Power Outages: How to prepare for shut off
Charlie is not alone. There are 4,561 PG&E customers in Solano County who are projected to lose power. Gerry Libatique was notified this morning via text.
"They are saying to prepare for wildfires. Power might be turn off in your area due to wildfires," said Libatique while pointing to his PG&E text alert.
The scope of this PSPS keeps changing from 44,000 customers in 32 counties to now 25,000 in 22 counties with minimal impact to the Bay Area.
PG&E has been tracking the weather system projecting 50mph winds by Monday morning. These weather patterns are giving Vacaville Battalion Chief Matt Lage a flashbacks of the LNU complex fire.
RELATED: Gusty winds, dry conditions bring high fire danger to parts of Bay Area
"With low humidity and high winds that is the recipe for a combination of things that increase the fire spread rapidly," said Battalion Chief Lage.
All factors leading to a new fire response strategy.
"Normally is just one engine that initially goes to most areas in the city with the exception of specific target hazards and now we are going to send four," said Battalion Chief Lage.
With just hours to spare, Gerry and his family are frustrated hoping PG&E changes their strategy as they prepare for the fourth PSPS of the year.
"We are at the mercy of PG&E right now," said Libatique.
For the complete list of counties that could be impacted, go here.
RELATED PG&E OUTAGE STORIES AND VIDEOS:
- What to do right now to prep for a planned power outage
- Tracker shows how close we are to overloading the power grid
- Here's how to store electricity before a power outage
- How to make your phone's battery last longer
- How to sign up for emergency alerts where you live
- Surviving a long-term power outage
- Consumers can file a claim with PG&E, but will they get paid?
- PG&E Outage: A look back at utility company's history of blackouts
