A wind-driven wildfire forced evacuations north of San Francisco on Thursday as power companies warned that more than half a million homes and businesses across California could lose electricity because of encroaching flames.
Cal Fire, the state’s firefighting agency, said the blaze near Geyserville, about 35 kilometres north of Santa Rosa in Sonoma County, had grown to 38 square kilometres early Thursday. The county sheriff’s office says evacuations have been ordered.
The National Weather Service says winds around the highest areas of Sonoma County have been blowing at speeds up to 112 km/h, and elsewhere in the region there are winds between 50 km/h and 80 km/h.
Meanwhile, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and Southern California Edison (SCE) said they could cut off electricity to more than 500,000 homes and businesses as a preventive measure against the wildfires.
More than 308,000 customers in seven counties, including Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Ventura in Southern California, are under the massive preemptive power shutoff already, SCE said.
PG&E has shut off power in 15 counties, affecting about 178,000 customers in those areas. The company said additional power shutoffs for parts of San Mateo County and Kern County were expected to begin at about 1 a.m. local time on Thursday, affecting more than 1,000 customers.
Red Flag Warnings have been issued for parts of California. A Red Flag Warning means critical fire conditions are either occurring, or will shortly. <a href=”https://t.co/93Bhknjbnw”>https://t.co/93Bhknjbnw</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeatherReady?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#WeatherReady</a> <a href=”https://t.co/gQC8I81ELY”>pic.twitter.com/gQC8I81ELY</a>
—@NWS
San Diego Gas & Electric Co has also identified more than 41,000 customers under consideration for preventive shutoffs, but had not implemented any as of Thursday.
Power lines could be knocked down and start fires among dry trees and vegetation, according to earlier forecasts.
Bankrupt Californian power producer PG&E cut off electricity to more than 730,000 homes and workplaces in northern California earlier this month to try to reduce wildfire risks posed by extremely windy and dry weather.
Forecaster Marc Chenard said the worst of the winds would arrive on Thursday afternoon and into Friday.
At its worst, Southern California will see wind gusts of 88 km/h and down in some coastal areas the winds could reach 120 km/h later Thursday, Chenard said.
Chenard added that northern California could experience dangerous wind gusts of up to 72 km/h. “This is not going to abate until at least this weekend.”