Bay Area heat wave: Tri-Valley residents conserve energy amid triple-digit temps; Oakland braces for possible fires
A Red Flag Warning will be in effect starting at 10 p.m. Monday night through Wednesday morning for the North Bay mountains and East Bay hills.
OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- A Red Flag Warning will be in effect starting at 10 p.m. Monday until 8 a.m. Wednesday for the North Bay and East Bay hills and mountains as a heat wave continues to move through the Bay Area. It will be in effect for the Santa Cruz Mountains starting at 10 a.m. Tuesday through 8 a.m. Wednesday.
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Oakland, surrounding cities brace amid high fire danger
Often exempt from heat waves that strike the inland communities of the East Bay, Oakland and surrounding cities have not been spared this time around.
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"Eleven a.m. this morning, we're at 99 degrees," said Oakland Fire Department Deputy Chief Nick Luby as he showed us a weather app on his phone on Grizzly Peak. "Twenty-two percent humidity and our fuel moisture is down to 4% right now, which is explosive."
They are the kind of numbers that make even veteran firefighters like Luby shudder, knowing what could happen with just one spark in the East Bay hills.
"Vegetation is very dry, very susceptible to ignition and we are asking our community, do everything you can to prevent that ignition source," said Luby.
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And here, the worst is yet to come.
Temperatures may drop in the days ahead, but the winds are expected to pick up, prompting a Red Flag Warning starting at 10 p.m. Monday night through Wednesday morning.
That's why Oakland and neighboring departments will staff up and launch patrols to make sure a small spark doesn't grow into a major disaster.
"Because that's all it's going to take. With the wind coming tonight, into tomorrow and everything ready to just explode basically," said Luby.
Triple digit heat hits the Tri-Valley
As temperatures approached close to 110 degrees in the Tri-Valley, Vanessa Dellon, who lives in Dublin, decided to get early start.
"I decided to take my dog, Beedo, to the dog park as early as possible, and spend as much time as possible before it gets really hot and we can't go anywhere," says Dellon.
She knows it will be tough to stay indoors due to COVID-19 while also having to limit the use of the air conditioner, in an effort to conserve energy to prevent rotating blackouts.
PG&E officials says Californians conserved enough energy on Sunday to keep the lights on. PGE is asking customers to the same again Monday.
"Don't run those major appliances, the dishwasher, the washing machine, the dyer, the vacuum cleaner, until after 9 p.m., or before 3 p.m.," says PG&E spokesperson Deanna Contreras.
RELATED: Spare the Air Alert in effect for Bay Area through Monday
The potential PSPS starting Monday evening could impact approximately 158,000 customers in portions of 21 counties in the Sierra foothills and North Bay. Specifically, customers in portions of the following counties are being notified: Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, El Dorado, Humboldt, Kern, Lake, Mariposa, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Sonoma, Tehama, Trinity, Tuolumne and Yuba.
The potential PSPS event would not go into effect until late Monday evening.
Customers can now go to PG&E's website to see the order of rotation of rolling outages. You can check for your rotating block number using the tool here.
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