PG&E is apologizing after sending a notification to some people in San Luis Obispo County about potential public safety power shutoffs.
The utility tweeted Wednesday night saying if people received a notification about the power shutoff, but don’t live in Butte, Lake, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sierra, Sonoma, or Yuba Counties, they should disregard the notification.
The San Luis Obispo County OES, CAL FIRE, and Morro Bay Fire Department also tweeted to clarify that the warning didn’t apply locally. SLO County OES says although extreme fire weather is expected in some parts of the state, there are no public safety power shutoffs planned in San Luis Obispo County currently.
The Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management also tweeted that it was not affected by the PG&E Public Safety Power Shutdown.
PG&E announced Tuesday that it could shut off power in some Northern California counties on Thursday due to a Red Flag Warning, as well as other potential weather events that could lead to extreme fire danger.
The Red Flag Warning is slated to begin Wednesday night in Northern California and last through Friday.
Some areas in Southern California are also expected to be under a Red Flag Warning from 10 a.m. Thursday until 10 p.m. Friday.
PG&E shut down power to nearly 60,000 customers in Northern California just last month in an effort to prevent wildfires.
The company launched a Wildfire Safety Operations Center to monitor for extreme fire conditions and prevent future wildfires. The center was launched after last year’s deadly wildfires, some of which were blamed on downed power lines and damaged electrical equipment belonging to the utility company.
ADVISORY: Local and public safety officials – If you received a call for a Public Safety Power Shutoff and ARE NOT located in Butte, Lake, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sierra, Sonoma, or Yuba counties, please disregard the notification. We apologize for the error.
— John Lindsey (@PGE_John) November 8, 2018
