PG&E cancels wildfire safety blackout as winds ease across California

PG&E Corp. is keeping the lights on after all.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. canceled a “public safety power shutoff” scheduled for early Monday as wind gusts were calmer than expected and the threat of wildfire dissipated.

The blackout, when first announced Friday evening, was going to darken 130,000 homes and businesses in 15 counties. The National Weather Service put a “red flag” warning into effect through Monday evening for much of Northern and Central California.

But PG&E said its own forecast improved over the weekend, and California’s largest utility steadily shrank the planned power outage’s footprint before calling off the blackout altogether early Monday.

The shutoff would have been the sixth of the year as PG&E, just six months removed from bankruptcy, remains under intense pressure from public officials to prevent major wildfires.

The utility was driven into bankruptcy by liabilities from the 2018 Camp Fire and other disasters and is being investigated in connection with the Zogg Fire, which killed four people and destroyed 204 homes in Shasta County in September.

This story was originally published December 7, 2020 at 7:41 AM with the headline "PG&E cancels wildfire safety blackout as winds ease across California."