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Thousands of Californians were off electricity Friday, potentially losing more electricity over the weekend as the risk of wildfires from the weather system that has led to dry gusts of winds across much of the state.
Pacific Gas & Electric, the state’s largest utility, turned off power to around 7,000 customers in Central and Northern California on Friday “due to severe weather and risk of wildfires,” continuing its closure that began Thursday and was expected to continue through the weekend.
Southland’s largest power provider, Edison of Southern California, cut off power to more than 1,000 customers on Friday morning, mainly in Santa Barbara and Kern County, but said more than 30,000 other customers could lose power until Sunday due to concerns about wind.
“Wind conditions, still quite low humidity, and finer fuels are quite dry, so we are looking at high and intense fire conditions,” said Kristen Rand, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard about Southern Santa Barbara County and the surrounding area. The Southern California conditions have not met the threshold to trigger the red flag warning, but there is still a possibility of a rapid-growing fire, she said.
Dangerous winds peaking today and Saturday – the strongest 2-9pm. Seafarers should stay at a safe port. Driver, be careful not to blow road debris or blurry. Isolated blackouts and fallen trees are possible. Increased risk of grass fires – beware of those around you. #cawx pic.twitter.com/l29tlde9gn
– NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLOSANGELES) June 20, 2025
Edison spokesman Jeff Monford said the planned suspension was “an essential tool for public safety.” The so-called public safety power shutoff is initiated by a utility to minimize potential sparks in high-risk conditions.
The state’s three biggest utilities, PG&E, SCE, and SAN DIEGO GAS & ELECTRIC, began adopting power cuts as a strategy to reduce the risk of fires about a decade ago, after launching some of the deadliest and most destructive fires in modern history.
The SCE equipment was part of an investigation into the launch of the Eton fire in January, killing 18 people and destroying thousands of homes and buildings in Altadena and the surrounding communities.
Further suspensions were being considered in Southern California in other parts of Santa Barbara County, as well as in other parts of Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Kahn, Inho, Tulea and Mono counties, SCE said. PG&E said it is considering suspending almost 12,000 customers in 15 counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Contra, Fresno, Glen, Mercedo, Monterey, San Benito, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, Santa Clara, Shasta, Stanislaus and Tejama.
Red flag warnings indicating critical fire weather conditions were issued in several pockets of the state and across a wide range of the American West.
Westerly winds were expected by early Saturday in the Indian Wells Valley area of the Mojave Desert, in northern San Bernardino, in parts of Inho and Karn counties. The weather service warned that “developing fires are likely to spread quickly any fire.”
Red flag warnings were issued until midnight Friday in Lassen, Alpine and Mono counties near the Nevada border.
Important warnings included almost all of Nevada and Utah, as well as northern Arizona and much of Colorado.
“The combination of strong winds, low relative humidity and temperature can contribute to extreme fire behavior,” the Meteorological Bureau warned of these areas. “Avoid outdoor activities that can cause sparks near dry vegetation, such as yardwork, target shooting, and campfires.”
Other areas had not yet been promoted to a red flag warning, but the Weather Service had issued several other recommendations on high winds and fire concerns that continued into Sunday.
From much of southern Santa Barbara County and to Northern LA county, the Weather Service issued strong wind warnings, warning that “we expect a rushed north wind over the next few nights.” In counties in southern Santa Barbara, winds reached 60 mph on Thursday evening, but the weather department said “weather winds are expected on Friday night.”
Lund said these conditions are at a high risk of fire.
All of the Mohab Deserts were under the recommendation of wind for most of the weekend. Much of the Sacramento Valley and northern San Joaquin Valley were under fire monitoring on Saturday and Sunday. “The combination of gusts of wind and low humidity causes the fire to grow rapidly,” the warning states.
The Santa Barbara County coast and part of the Santa Naz mountains were under high wind viewing on Friday, with gusts of wind could be up to 60 mph.
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