The Wall Street Journal - 28.10.2019

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. **** Monday, October 28, 2019 |A

U.S. NEWS

of the woods, and the wind

conditions that were fero-

cious continue today,” said

County of Sonoma Supervisor

David Rabbitt.

There were no reports of

deaths or major injuries.

In what has become a new

routine in the state, PG&E

Corp., the bankrupt utility

whose equipment has been

cited as a cause in numerous

past fires, said it cut off power

to 965,000 homes and busi-

nesses—or an estimated 2.

million people—in dozens of

counties from the far northern

part of the state to the moun-

tains at the end of the Central

Valley. That surpasses the

shut-offs to 750,000 customers

this month that drew wide-

spread criticism of PG&E.

“We recognize the hardship

of not having power. We are

working hard with all our part-

ners to ensure the most vul-

nerable customers are being

cared for,” said Andrew M.

Vesey, chief executive officer

and president of Pacific Gas &

Electric Co., the main subsid-

iary of PG&E, during a news

conference Saturday night.

Late Sunday, PG&E officials

said they had already begun

working to restore power in

far-north portions of the state

and expected to do so to most

other areas beginning Monday

morning. But they warned that

more predicted high winds—

not believed to be as strong as

the current one—would trigger

another power shutdown be-

ginning Tuesday.

The officials said a some-

what smaller area would be af-

fected, as they began notifying

customers of the new outages

on Sunday. Mr. Vesey said the

utility would work to get cus-

tomers restored before the

next outage but warned some

may stay without power from

the current blackout. He ad-

vised everyone to charge de-

vices and take other emer-

gency measures as soon as

their power comes back on, to

be ready.

“Preparedness is every-

thing,” Mr. Vesey said in a

press briefing in San Fran-

cisco. “We all have to be pre-

pared for these events.”

About 364 Southern Califor-

nia Edison customers, mostly

in San Bernardino County east

of Los Angeles, were without

power Sunday afternoon.

The Tick Canyon Fire, which

raged earlier in the week in

Los Angeles County, was

largely contained Sunday. At

its peak, as many as 50,

people were ordered evacu-

ated. That fire has consumed

about 4,600 acres and de-

stroyed 22 structures, accord-

ing to the Los Angeles County

Fire Department.

Meanwhile in Northern Cali-

fornia, traffic on U.S. Highway

101 in Sonoma County was at a

near standstill Sunday morn-

ing as cars headed south from

to officials in Sonoma County,

north of San Francisco.

The Kincade Fire was about

10% contained by more than

3,000 firefighters who have

been deployed, and it was ad-

vancing south and west, ac-

cording to the California De-

partment of Forestry and Fire

Protection, or Cal Fire.

Officials said at a news

conference Sunday that they

expect current conditions,

which include high winds and

low humidity that can lead to

the rapid spread of fire, to

persist for days.

“We know we are not out

ContinuedfromPageOne

Strong

Winds

Drive Fires

Firefighters responded to a burning winery in Healdsburg, Calif., on Sunday. An estimated 2.5 million people were without power.

JOSH EDELSON/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

the evacuation zones.

At an evacuation shelter in

Petaluma, Lara O’Brien re-

counted how she and about 14

friends from Ireland fled in a

caravan of seven cars after at-

tending a wedding in the re-

sort town of Monte Rio on

Saturday.

“First the caterer canceled,

then the bartender, and then

the power went out,” Ms.

O’Brien, a 50-year-old free-

lance writer, said as she

clutched pillows and blankets

at the Petaluma Community

Center. But once evacuation si-

rens started blaring at about

midnight, she said she and the

entourage decided to make

their escape down dark, wind-

ing roads.

Linda Seipp of Santa Rosa

lived through the Tubbs Fire in

2017, and she said the smell of

smoke and sound of howling

winds was reminiscent of that

night when the fire devastated

large parts of the city north of

her home. She decided to evac-

uate, with her son, 16, daugh-

ter, 27, a nine-month-old

grandson and a dog named Ro-

meo at about midnight Satur-

day. She said her evacuation

was hampered by dark streets

and some blocked roads.

But many people chose to

ignore evacuation orders. Alice

Plichcik, who lost a home she

shared in Santa Rosa with her

sister, Susan Plichcik, during

the Tubbs Fire said they chose

to wait out the threat at their

new home in a rural area a few

miles west of where the Kin-

cade Fire started.

Petaluma police said the

three designated evacuation

shelters in the city had all

been filled to capacity by mid-

morning Sunday, and new ones

were opening in area churches

and nearby cities as people

continued to stream into the

area from the fire zone.

—Alicia Caldwell

contributed to this article.

5 miles

5km

5 miles

5km

5miles

5km

Santa ClaritaSanta Clarita

Windsor

Healdsburg

Middletown

Cobb

Cloverdale

Los Angeles

Lights Out

Wide swaths of California were without power as the state

battled several major fires amid high winds.

Note: Outages as of 5 p.m. Sunday

Source: NASA (hot spots); Microsoft (buildings); Pacific Gas and Electric (outages)

Kincade Fire

Acres burned:

30,

Kincade Fire

Acres burned:

30,

Tick Fire

Acres burned:

4,

Areas where

outages occurred

Areas where

outages occurred

Areas where

outagesoccurred

Healdsburgdsburdd

Hot spots

detected

Oct. 26

Oct. 27

Oct. 25

Oct. 24

CALIF.