Nearly 70,000 Pacific Gas & Electric customers across California are without power as the company carried out public safety power shutoffs intended to reduce wildfire risks.
Among the hardest-hit areas is Calaveras County, where nearly 11,000 customers were without electricity.
As of Thursday afternoon, other heavily impacted areas include El Dorado County, with about 8,700 customers without power, Tuolumne County with more than 7,200, and Placer County with about 5,200.
PG&E reported more than 68,300 customers without power across 25 affected counties, as of Thursday afternoon.
PG&E described the shutoffs as among its largest in years. The utility opened resource centers where customers could access charging stations and Wi-Fi, and distributed care packages to people affected by the outages.
While PG&E says the shutoffs are intended to prevent wildfires, some residents questioned why their electricity was turned off when conditions appeared calm.
“We got bright skies. There is no visible thing that’s telling me it’s related to weather,” said Tracy Brooks, who lives in Hathaway Pines in Calaveras County.
A PG&E spokesperson said conditions at a customer’s home do not necessarily reflect the weather along the power lines supplying that location.
“Just because you may not be experiencing, you know, that type of weather where you are, does not mean the line that services you does not run through a high fire threat area,” the spokesperson said.
PG&E said the weather system driving the shutoffs could persist through Saturday. However, the utility said customers would not necessarily remain without power for the entire period.
Crews must inspect power lines before restoring electricity, meaning power could return to some customers before others as inspections are completed.
“More people are prepared this year.”
In the Calaveras County town of Arnold, the outages forced some businesses to close, with signs posted in windows explaining they had no power.
For some residents, generators have become an important backup.
“I lived here a lot of years without one, but I have one now,” Arnold resident Kimberly Bertolino said.
Bertolino said more people in the retirement-heavy community have prepared for outages since a major storm last year.
“It’s a big retirement area. Yeah, more since that big storm we had last year. More people are prepared this year,” she said.
Others are finding it more difficult to adjust. Brooks said losing electricity also means losing access to everyday conveniences.
“Am I adaptable? Yeah, in some sense, but I don’t do camping and that kind of thing. You don’t have internet and you don’t have entertainment like television,” Brooks said.
On Thursday afternoon, a generator fire in Arnold brought firefighting aircraft overhead.
Arnold resident Alice Stroh said crews responded quickly.
“I mean, we had a lot of planes and helicopters, and they got that out really quick,” Stroh said.
Bertolino said she understands the need for the precautions, even if she questions the timing.
“They might have shut it a little early, but I’d rather not have a fire,” she said.