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According to a press release on Tuesday, Pacific Gas and Electric could soon cut off the power of 69,000 customers in northern California from Thursday morning.
The National Weather Service on Tuesday issued a red flag warning for the Sacramento Valley and parts of the Bay Area starting Wednesday night and continuing until the end of the week.
The forecast predicts strong winds. The winds and dry vegetation create a high potential for forest fires, and the power company does not want to cause any flames, said spokeswoman Kristi Jourdan. Cal Fire authorities have repeatedly pointed out that PG & E power lines and pole breaking caused at least 16 forest fires in October that killed 44 people.
Parts of nine counties – Butte, Lake, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sierra, Sonoma, Yuba – would be affected by the closures, according to spokeswoman Kristi Jourdan.
This would be a bigger power outage than PG & E set up last month in northern California. PG & E's first public safety stop lasted three days and reached nearly 60,000 customers. The utility submitted a report to the California Public Utilities Commission last week to defend its decision, but acknowledged that communication with customers and restoration time could be further improved.
"What we do is in the interest of customers and for the safety of their customers, and this is only a last result in extreme weather conditions," said Jourdan.
PG & E began Tuesday to send notifications about potential closures via SMS, phone calls and emails. Jourdan said that after monitoring weather conditions until Wednesday, PG & E will decide areas, if any, to de-energize and inform the affected customers.
If the power cuts started, Jourdan said that we did not know how long they could last.
"It's a fairly fluid situation," she said.
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