PG&E Cuts Power to 48K California Customers to Avert Wildfire Risk
Pacific Gas & Electric cut power to 48,200 customers in seven counties in California’s Sierra Foothills and North Bay overnight because of high fire danger.
The majority of those affected by the power outage, which took place around 2 a.m. and turned back on by 4 a.m., were in Butte and Nevada counties.
This is the second time the utility has done so this week.
The outages come during a red flag warning in the area, as hot, dry and windy weather increases wildfire risk.
The weather conditions are expected to last until at least noon today.
More than 24,000 customers lost power Monday as PG&E. PG&E reported it discovered four incidents of weather-related equipment damage.
PG&E cut power to some 60,000 customers in October 2018, prior to the Camp Fire, which has since been blamed on PG&E equipment.
The utility has since been dealing with bankruptcy issues due to the wildfire. PG&E Corp. earlier this month sought to assure a judge it’s making progress on fire prevention, saying it’s exceeding regulatory requirements to clear vegetation from power lines.
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