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As the winds began howling strongly overnight and the Kincade fire continued to spread in Sonoma County, Pacific Gas & Electric shut off power to more than 2 million people across the Bay Area.
The company’s largest power shutdown up to this point was rolled out across more than 38 counties in Northern California starting Saturday evening — affecting more than 920,000 homes and businesses so far.
Power started to go out in the Oakland and Berkeley hills around midnight. Police were stationed at disabled traffic lights Sunday morning to direct traffic, and residents were stocking up on ice and water at the Lucky’s and Safeway stores in Montclair, which appeared to be powered by generators.
BART officials announced Sunday morning that trains would not be running between the Orinda and Walnut Creek stations. Passengers must take a free bus in between stations and should expect to add an extra 40 minutes to their trip.
Paul Doherty, a spokesman for PG&E, said the company is advising customers in the shutdown zones to expect the widespread outage to last several days.
“It’s a changing situation given the intense winds that we’re seeing,” he said. “But as of right now, we’re asking customers to be prepared (to be without power) for up to 48 hours.”
In the past two years, California has seen the two deadliest wildfires in state history. PG&E equipment was deemed responsible for sparking last year’s Camp Fire, which killed 86 people and devastated the town of Paradise.
Oakland fire department spokesman Michael Hunt said winds have been reported as high as 50 mph in North Oakland.
“We’ve seen a spike in the number of downed trees and power lines reported,” said Hunt.
Oakland police has additional units patrolling the hills, and Oakland Fire stations in the hills are continuing to conduct roving patrols, he said. “We are asking anyone who comes across a down wire to consider it a live wire and keep your distance, call 911 immediately.”
In Montclair, where power was shut down Saturday night, the popular downtown farmers market is typically packed on Sundays. And though venders and some customers still turned out as well as a performer who used his car to power his guitar amp, the turnout was pretty dismal.
Most businesses in Montclair village were closed on Sunday. A Great Place For Books bookstore, Rhythm Bikes and the Montclair Toyhouse remained open, using the daytime sunlight to illuminate their stores. Employee Mike Kelleher said the business will take a loss as it did during the last shutoff and that employees’ won’t log as many hours.
Living nearby in the affected zone, he said he understands how serious the fire threat is, but hopes PG&E will update its infrastructure so that this won’t be the new normal for long.
“I think this is going to be our new October schedule,” he said.
Power at the 130-room Los Gatos Lodge went out at 11:15 p.m. Saturday, just as two high school reunions and a Halloween party were winding down.
General manager Cecilio Reyes said the hotel was fortunate the events did not cancel when they heard about the shutoff, but all reservations were canceled Sunday.
“Sunday business is pretty much lost — it’s a lot of unhappy people,” Reyes said. “We don’t trust the estimates for when power will come back — they’ve been modified time and time again — so we’re prepared for the worst.”
Meanwhile, Reyes said, the lodge’s competitors across the street have power.
In an attempt to reduce wildfire risk due to anticipated heavy winds over the weekend, PG&E announced it would shut off power to millions of Californians for the second time in about two weeks.
The utility company broke up the latest shutdown in seven phases.
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The first and second phases started at 5 p.m. Saturday in the northern Sierra foothills and the North Bay, where the Kincade Fire continues to gain steam.
At 8 p.m. Saturday, the third phase of shutdowns began in Alameda, Contra Costa, Monterey, San Benito, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Stanislaus counties. About an hour later, a fourth phase kicked off in Humboldt, north Mendocino, Siskiyou and Trinity counties.
In San Jose, officials confirmed outages began about 8:30 p.m. in the Almaden, Alum Rock, Berryessa, Evergreen and Santa Teresa neighborhoods. A proclamation of local emergency was issued about 8:45 p.m.
The city will open the Berryessa, Camden, Evergreen and Southside community centers until 7 p.m. Sunday, where residents can use the restroom, receive bottled water and charge devices. A few traffic signals in the city were not functioning Sunday: Monterey Road and Live Oak Ave., Almaden Expressway and O’Grady Drive, Almaden Expressway and Harry Road, and Via Valiente and Bret Harte Drive.
“The impacts in San Jose are relatively small,” said Deputy City Manager Kip Harkness at a press conference Sunday morning.
The fifth phase of the outage— taking place in Alpine, Calaveras, Mariposa and Tuolumne counties — began at midnight Sunday.
The sixth shutdown phase is expected to roll out in Kern County at 9 p.m. Sunday. And, a seventh phase might include Fresno and Madera counties, but no times or dates have been released.
Power was out at the Almaden Via Valiente Plaza shopping center in San Jose on Sunday, where Sasan Shams, owner of Pomodoro Pizza, loaded ice cream, meats and other perishable ingredients into the trunk of his car.
The restaurant lost power just after 8:00 p.m. Saturday, said Shams, who was emptying his walk-in freezer and taking the supplies to refrigerate at the homes of friends and family.
During the last major outage earlier this month, Shams said he lost $3,000 in supplies and income.
“For a small business, two to three days of sales is your income, so this could mean no income (this month),” Shams said.
The winds that prompted the weekend outage are expected to dissipate on Monday morning, although it could take longer for power to be restored if the utility needs to fix damaged equipment. A number of cities across the Bay reported additional, unplanned power outages after the wind downed power lines.
Shams is worried about how his business will cope if the outages continue.
“It looks like this is going to be the routine,” Shams said.
Late Sunday afternoon, PG&E began warning customers about the possibility third shutoff from Tuesday morning through midday Wednesday, as dry, windy weather persists.
That shutoff could impact 32 counties across the Northern and Southern Sierra, North Bay, Bay Area and Santa Cruz mountains, North Coast and Kern County, according to a news release.
PG&E Has Begun De-energization of Electric Lines for Public Safety – Impacts Will Include Customers in Parts of 38 Counties in Northern and Central California, Historic Wind Event Will Affect 940,000 Customers and Last Through Monday https://t.co/XUqXZEo9k2 pic.twitter.com/nV4LlRdCDa
— Pacific Gas & Electric (@PGE4Me) October 27, 2019
A red flag warning due to high wind speeds is in effect until 11 a.m. Monday in much of the Bay Area.
Wind speeds of 56 miles per hour were recorded early Sunday morning in Santa Cruz County while the highest wind gusts were taking place closer to the Kincade Fire.
At 6 a.m. Sunday, peak wind gusts of 93 miles per hour were reported in the Healdsburg Hills on the outskirts of the fast-moving fire.
The strongest gusts we've seen all night are occurring right now. #CAwx #CAFire #KincadeFire https://t.co/2IKPAbhSdO
— NWS Bay Area 🌉 (@NWSBayArea) October 27, 2019
Doherty said the widespread power shutdowns are “not something (the company) takes likely, but we appreciate the public’s patience as we work through this event and try to ensure the public’s safety and reduce the risks of wildfires,” he said.
RESOURCE CENTERS
- The State Department of Health and Human Services set up a nonemergency hotline at 833-284-3473 for “medically vulnerable Californians” and healthcare facilities to find resources available to them during the power shutoffs. The hotline will be operated from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and assistance will be available in several different languages.
- PG&E also set up “community resource centers” for people affected by the shutdown. The centers will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and will provide restrooms, bottled water, charging stations and air-conditioned seating. Alameda County’s Community Resource Centers are at Merritt College, 12500 Campus Dr., in Oakland; UC Berkeley’s Clark Kerr Southwest Parking Lot at Tanglewood Road; and the Kmart, 26231 Mission Boulevard, in Hayward.
- Resource centers in Contra Costa County are at Tice Valley Community Center, 2055 Tice Valley Blvd., in Walnut Creek; St. Mary’s College, 1928 St. Mary’s Rd., in Moraga; Balfour-Guthrie Park, 1701 Balfour Road, in Brentwood; and Costco 4801 Central Avenue, in Richmond.
- PG&E opened two Community Resource Centers for the public in Santa Clara County Sunday, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at East Valley YMCA, 1975 S. White Road, in San Jose; and the Gilroy Costco back parking lot, 7251 Camino Arroyo, in Gilroy. The centers will provide access to restrooms, bottled water, electronic device charging and air-conditioned seating.
