LOS ANGELES, Oct 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) – The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), a main electricity power supplier in California, announced that, it will conduct a new round of Public Safety Power Shutoff.
“Widespread dry, hot and windy weather is expected to begin, impacting the service area between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. and through midday Monday,” PG&E, said.
According to the company’s power outage plan, 940,000 homes and businesses in 36 counties of the Golden States will be affected, representing more than two million people, nearly one-fifth of PG&E’s entire customer base.
It will be the largest of the precautionary outages that PG&E has undertaken, as the utility struggles to maintain safety. However, these efforts were criticised harshly by California Governor, Gavin Newsom, who said, the company must take responsibility for the wildfires that the local residents have been suffering for years and the power cuts.
The California utility company is under increasing scrutiny by regulatory authorities, since sparks from ageing or over taxed utility equipment have been blamed for some of California’s most disastrous wildfires recently.
To date, six of the most devastating blazes in California’s history were triggered by electrical equipment malfunction, including the brutal Camp fire in 2018, that wiped out the mountain town of Paradise, killing 86 residents.
While the cause of the Kincade fire in Sonoma county has not been determined, the PG&E reported a problem with a transmission tower, near the spot where the fire was ignited.
The National Weather Service issued Red Flag Warnings & Fire Weather Watches, Saturday, to Northern California. A Red Flag Warning means warm temperatures, very low humidity, and stronger winds are expected, to combine to produce an increased risk of fire danger.– NNN-AGENCIES