{"id":461939,"date":"2026-09-12T21:06:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T21:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/461939\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T21:06:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T21:06:12","slug":"red-flag-wildfire-risk-prompts-northern-california-outages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/461939\/","title":{"rendered":"Red flag wildfire risk prompts Northern California outages"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/SAC public safety power shutoff PSPS still frame chyron.png\"   width=\"1200\" height=\"674\" title=\"PG&amp;E has initiated planned public safety power shutoffs in Placer and Nevada counties. More shutoffs are likely this weekend.\" alt=\"Public Safety Power Shutoff\"\/><\/p>\n<p>        PG&amp;E has initiated planned public safety power shutoffs in Placer and Nevada counties. More shutoffs are likely this weekend.<\/p>\n<p>Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has initiated public safety power shutoffs in Placer and Nevada counties, causing more than 2,500 customers to temporarily lose power as of early Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>The initial round of shutoffs were issued for customers in the Sierra Nevada range near Donner Summit and Soda Springs and nearby foothills. Those shutoffs started around 9:30 a.m. Saturday, according to PG&amp;E\u2019s outage webpage.<\/p>\n<p>PG&amp;E as of 12:40 p.m. reported about 980  homes and businesses experiencing shutoffs in Placer County and about 390 in Nevada County, with PG&amp;E in earlier statements advising that the shutoff in Nevada County could increase to about 760 during the day.<\/p>\n<p>The company as of 12:50 p.m. reported about 1,160 homes experiencing shutoffs in Shasta County. Those shutoffs are concentrated in the rural communities of Fall River Mills and McArthur, in the northeastern part of the county.<\/p>\n<p>More shutoffs are likely as the weekend continues. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sacbee.com\/news\/local\/article317196860.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">PG&amp;E warned that close to 14,000 customers<\/a> in portions of about a dozen Northern California counties and four tribal areas could have their power turned off as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sacbee.com\/news\/local\/article317221307.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">wildfire risk increases across California<\/a> in the next few days due to windy, dry weather.<\/p>\n<p>Portions of counties in the northern Sierra and northern Sacramento Valley will require shutoffs today, including El Dorado, Lassen, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra and Tehama counties, <a href=\"https:\/\/pgealerts.alerts.pge.com\/psps-updates\/7day\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">according to the PG&amp;E website.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Early Saturday morning, the National Weather service<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/NWSSacramento\/status\/2098752828688728461\" rel=\"nofollow\"> issued a red flag warning<\/a> for wildfire danger for northern portions of the Sacramento Valley and northern Sierra Nevada foothills.<\/p>\n<p>While the warning is in place, weather conditions will make it easier for fires to start and spread rapidly. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sacbee.com\/news\/weather-news\/article317200163.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Temperatures are expected to decrease, but gusty winds and low humidity<\/a> will increase the potential for wildfire activity across much of Northern and Central California, recent forecasts show.<\/p>\n<p>PG&amp;E shuts off power preemptively when forecasts call for strong winds, low humidity and dry conditions that could allow electrical equipment to spark a wildfire, with red flag conditions like gusty winds and single-digit humidity triggering recent shutoffs earlier this summer.<\/p>\n<p>PG&amp;E said possible shutoffs Saturday could affect portions of El Dorado, Lassen, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra and Tehama counties. Homes and businesses that could be affected include:<\/p>\n<p>Colusa: 529 customersEl Dorado: 729 customersGlenn: 611 customersLassen: 744 customersNevada: 762 customersPlacer: 1,318 customersPlumas: 4,768 customersShasta: 2,658 customersSierra: 583 customersTehama: 1,080 customersYolo: 9 customersGrindstone Rancheria (Glenn): 46 customersGreenville Rancheria (Plumas): 31 customersCortina Rancheria (Colusa): 8 customersPit River Tribes (Shasta): 4 customers<\/p>\n<p>Close to Sacramento, potential Saturday shutoffs were concentrated largely in higher elevations of the Sierra Nevada, according to PG&amp;E\u2019s outage map.<\/p>\n<p>In El Dorado County, most of the areas identified by PG&amp;E were along the Highway 50 corridor around Twin Bridges and Echo Lake, areas southwest of Meyers.<\/p>\n<p>In Placer and Nevada counties, much of the potential shutoff area followed the Interstate 80 corridor from Emigrant Gap to just west of Donner Lake, including Kingvale, Soda Springs and Norden.<\/p>\n<p>Potential shutoffs in the Sacramento Valley were scattered across areas of Colusa, Glenn and Tehama counties west of Interstate 5. Near Redding, most of the areas identified by PG&amp;E were along Highway 299 west of Lower Springs Road, including Keswick and the community of Shasta.<\/p>\n<p>On Sunday, the potential shutoff area expands to portions of Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn, Lassen, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Tehama and Yolo counties. By Monday, PG&amp;E said possible shutoffs were limited to portions of Colusa, Glenn and Tehama counties.<\/p>\n<p>Customers <a href=\"https:\/\/pgealerts.alerts.pge.com\/psps-updates\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">can sign up for updates<\/a> about shutoffs in their area or at their specific address on the PG&amp;E site.<\/p>\n<p class=\"summary gray\">This story was originally published September 12, 2026 at 12:16 PM.<\/p>\n<p>        Related Stories from  Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n<p>                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sacbee.com\/profile\/316042916\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"author-thumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789247172_458_SAC_HaleyParsley.JPG\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" alt=\"Profile Image of Haley Parsley\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n                    <\/a><\/p>\n<p>                <a class=\"author-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sacbee.com\/profile\/316042916\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Haley Parsley<\/a><\/p>\n<p>                    The Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n<p>            Haley Parsley is the acting Folsom and El Dorado Hills watchdog reporter for The Sacramento Bee. She holds a master\u2019s degree in journalism from the University of Maryland, where she was a fellow at the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism. While there, she reported on immigration policy in the state. She has previously reported in Oklahoma City.\n            <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PG&amp;E has initiated planned public safety power shutoffs in Placer and Nevada counties. More shutoffs are likely this&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461940,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-461939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}