California Fire Danger Has Utilities Set for Broad Shutoffs

More than 345,000 homes and businesses across California are facing potential power cuts this week during what’s expected to be a days-long onslaught of dangerous fire weather conditions.

With drying winds forecast to blow through much of the state through Saturday, Edison International’s Southern California utility and PG&E Corp. are warning of the possibility of scattered shutoffs in dozens of high-risk areas. The impact zones extend from Shasta Lake and the Bay Area community of Berkeley, to Santa Barbara and the mountain foothills above Pasadena.

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The US National Weather Service has issued a string of red flag fire warnings through that corridor, which is home to more than 5.9 million people. Wind advisories and heat alerts have also cropped up across Southern California. By Thursday, dropping humidity and warm temperatures are expected to create “critical” fire conditions north of Los Angeles.

“All of this will add up to a high risk for large fires and rapid fire growth over most of the area,” weather service forecasters said Wednesday.

California is entering the most perilous stretch of its year-round fire season, when hot, arid winds roll down from the mountains and out to sea. Known as Santa Anas in Southern California, the winds typically begin to blow in October.

Seasonal windstorms have fanned stray sparks into some of the state’s most destructive fires, including blazes that consumed more than 16,000 structures around Los Angeles in January 2025. One of those conflagrations, the Eaton Fire, was attributed to electrical equipment owned by Edison International.

As Santa Ana wind forecasts came into focus Wednesday, Southern California Edison said it was considering shutting off power to more than 259,000 customers across seven counties later this week. The interruptions would encroach on the Eaton Fire footprint outside Pasadena and the seaside communities of Malibu, Ventura and Santa Barbara.

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Customers in Kern and Tulare counties in the Central Valley may also lose service, the company said.

In northern and central parts of the state, PG&E said it may power down circuits serving as many as 88,000 customers across 29 counties, including Napa and Sonoma, and six tribal governments. Shutoffs will be required every day through Saturday in parts of Alameda, Contra Costa, Lassen and Shasta counties, the company said.

PG&E’s forecasters said in an update that dead brush and grass had grown critically dry, “approaching historical minimums in some areas.”

The high winds expected this week will be strong enough to topple trees, the weather service said, raising the risk of unintentional power outages across a large swath of the state.

Shutting off power is the surest way to prevent utility equipment from throwing a spark. Limiting fire ignitions and the multibillion-dollar liabilities that may follow has emerged as a key priority for PG&E and Southern California Edison, the state’s largest investor-owned utilities.

In this year’s state legislative session, both PG&E and Edison International pushed hard to limit their legal and financial exposure in the aftermath of utility-ignited wildfires. Although they had Governor Gavin Newsom on their side, lawmakers ultimately failed to reach a consensus and ended the session without passing a favorable bill.

Edison shares fell as much as 3.6% on Wednesday while PG&E dropped as much as 3.9%.

Top photo: SoCal Edison transmission towers stand in Altadena, California. Photographer: Mario Tama/Getty Images. Bloomberg.