PG&E patrols inspecting lines, hope to restore power to Sonoma County customers by Wednesday evening

Pacific Gas & Electric crews began patrolling in the air, by vehicle and on foot at dawn Wednesday, with a goal of restoring power to most of the nearly 18,000 customers whose electricity was turned off Monday because of fire danger.

Only when transmission lines are determined to be in working condition and free of hazards will PG&E begin turning the power back on.

In Sonoma County, the utility cut electricity to 17,685 customers, affecting an estimated 45,000 people, beginning Monday night.

In Santa Rosa, that figure was 15,052 customers, with 2,733 in unincorporated areas – most on the far eastern side of the city, spreading north to Calistoga and southeast toward Sonoma.

PG&E estimates all of those customers will have power restored by 7 p.m. Wednesday.

View the outage map here.

Beginning this morning, more than 3,000 PG&E personnel will patrol and inspect about 10,750 miles of transmission and distribution power lines.

The utility waits until it receives an “all-clear” message from its meteorologists that the high fire danger posed by winds, heat and low humidity has passed.

PG&E noted that restoration may be delayed for some customers if patrols find significant damage by winds, debris or fire. Smoky skies could also hamper air patrols.

Statewide, PG&E shut off power to about 172,000 customers in 22 counties, including Sonoma and Napa.

Within those areas, wind gusts were measured as high as 66 mph in Butte County and 65 in Sonoma County at the Santa Fe geothermal weather station Tuesday night around 10 p.m.

PG&E has faced massive lawsuits and legislative pressure to shore up its lines and improve its safety and maintenance procedures after its faulty lines were determined to have caused the 2018 deadly Camp fire in Paradise and the 2019 Kincade fire that started north of Geyserville in Sonoma County.

Since the fires, the utility has instituted preemptory “public safety power shutoffs” that cut power when weather-fire danger is high. The company has pledged to make them shorter this year than last as more workers and equipment are out to inspect lines.

Its goal is to have power restored 12 daylight hours after a weather all-clear is issued.

You can reach Staff Writer Lori A. Carter at 707-521-5470 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @loriacarter.