PG&E issues public safety power shutoffs amid high fire danger

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Much of Central California is on high alert for fire danger as strong winds whipped through the dry brush over the weekend and into Monday.

"This weekend, especially in the foothill communities, we were seeing wind gusts up to 50 mph, so that is easily a wind that can spread fires," ABC30 meteorologist Christine Gregory said.

Smoke filled the air after a fire broke out near Highway 41 and O street in downtown Fresno on Saturday.

This was just one of several fires that quickly spread over the weekend amid high winds and low humidity.

Those conditions increase the risk for fire, causing PG&E to issue the year's first public safety power shutoffs with the help of artificial intelligence.

"We're able to do extensive modeling and with that machine learning we're able to see where the most severe fire danger is and just take those customers out while leaving the customers surrounding those danger areas energized," PG&E spokesperson, Jeff Smith said.

PG&E says the shutoffs impacted just over 300 customers in Fresno County and around 150 in Merced County, but as of Monday afternoon, most had their power restored.

Those planned outages are part of the utility's proactive efforts to identify wildfire risk, along with its new first-of-its-kind Continuous Monitoring Center in San Ramon.

"We're able to identify equipment that may be more vulnerable and get out and replace it before it causes a problem," Smith explained.

PG&E says the center adds to its existing cameras, drones and other technology to assess risk and prevent unplanned outages.

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