PG&E power shutoffs underway in Bay Area – NBC Bay Area

PG&E Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) went into effect Friday due to fire weather conditions, leaving thousands of Bay Area customers in the dark.

Below is a breakdown of PSPS impacts by county as of Saturday morning.

To view the specific areas impacted by a PSPS, visit pge.com/pspsupdates.

PG&E has opened community resource centers in affected areas. The public can visit the centers to charge their phones and other devices, access WiFi and receive customer service support. Blankets, air conditioning, snacks and bottled water are also available.

“We're very concerned about something blowing down the line, for example – what we call a fault in the system and that would result in a spark,” said Dave Canny of PG&E. “Any spark with wind could lead to a fire that could get out of control due to weather conditions.”

The PSPS outages could last until Saturday night.

“The duration and extent of power outages will depend on the weather in individual areas and not all customers will be affected throughout the entire period,” PG&E said in a statement.

Fires have already burned parts of the Bay Area. Of note, the Oakland Hills Basement Fire burned 13 acres and damaged two buildings on Friday.

Over 100 firefighters responded to the fire and mandatory evacuations were carried out.

Separately, the City of Berkley has declared extreme fire weather that will begin at 7 p.m. and continue through Saturday morning.

According to the Berkeley Fire Department, residents living in the hills are advised to evacuate before 8 p.m. and all residents should prepare for wildfire evacuation.