PG&E says it will shut power off to areas in North Bay Saturday due to wildfire risk

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KGO) -- PG&E confirms it will proactively begin turning off power Saturday morning because of wildfire risk.

In Napa County, parts of the eastern part of Napa and Lake Berryessa will go dark. In Solano County, areas of Suisun City and Vacaville are affected.

And in Yolo County, parts of Davis and Winters will be impacted.

The planned outages will begin at 6 AM on Saturday.

"Because we've seen extreme weather and an increase in wildfires," PG&E spokesperson Deanna Contreras said, "We are taking safety precautions by shutting off the power in helping reduce wildfire threats."

PG&E says they are alerting customers to these power outages through automated phone calls, texts and emails.

The utility company is also considering turning off power in other counties across Northern California, including Placer, El Dorado, Nevada, Yuba and Butte Counties. In Butte County, portions of Paradise- which is still recovering from the Camp Fire last year- are part of the potentially impacted area.

The planned outages come amid a weekend of high fire threat across the North Bay. CAL FIRE announced red flag warnings across many counties, including in Marin, Sonoma and Napa counties.

"This is the first red flag warning here locally in Sonoma County," Santa Rosa Fire Department Assistant Fire Marshall Paul Lowenthal told ABC7. "It's for the upper elevations for Sonoma County, but it still serves as a reminder for our residents of what's to come this season."

The Santa Rosa Fire Department said they're not staffing up yet, but they are taking other precautions, including moving their wildland engine into a different part of the city to preposition it.

In Napa County, some people had mixed feelings on the planned power outages.

Claire Weinkauf, who owns Picayune Cellars in Calistoga, said the uncertainty of the power outages makes her even more nervous.

"I live here, so, on one hand, you do appreciate the caution," Weinkauf said, "But on a business point of view, it's very scary and nerve-racking because if we don't have power, you know, none of the equipment works and we cannot really do any business."

You can also find a map of the affected areas here.