{"id":82598,"date":"2026-07-15T21:06:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T04:06:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=82598"},"modified":"2026-07-15T21:06:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T04:06:22","slug":"northern-california-faces-above-normal-wildfire-risk-through-fall-how-to-prepare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=82598","title":{"rendered":"Northern California Faces Above-Normal Wildfire Risk Through Fall \u2014 How to Prepare"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By<\/span>Selen Ozturk\u00a0<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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As Californians head into a historically dangerous fall wind season, Northern California is expected to face above-normal wildfire risk through September.<\/p>\n

Speaking during a July 8 media roundtable at PG&E\u2019s Emergency Operations Center in Vacaville, company officials said more than half of the utility\u2019s 70,000-square-mile service territory lies within\u00a0high fire-risk zones<\/a>, leaving millions of customers vulnerable as hot, dry winds arrive later this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWildfire risk never really goes away, but there definitely is a peak season, and we\u2019re just getting into that peak season now,\u201d said Scott Strenfel, PG&E\u2019s senior director of meteorology and fire science. \u201cAfter a hot and dry summer, usually our live fuels and dead fuel moisture values \u2014 basically surface vegetation \u2014 is at its driest state and then we start to get the potential for wind events.\u201d<\/p>\n

CAL FIRE data<\/a>\u00a0shows 3,215 wildfires this year have burned 85,665 acres statewide as of July 9 \u2014 fewer fires than the five-year average of 4,352, though more acreage than the five-year average of 81,874.<\/p>\n

However, the National Interagency Fire Center\u2019s\u00a0most recent four-month outlook<\/a>, issued July 1, projects \u201cabove normal significant fire potential\u201d across Northern California from July through September.<\/p>\n

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration\u2019s Climate Prediction Center also projects an\u00a081% chance of a \u201cvery strong\u201d El Ni\u00f1o<\/a>\u00a0weather pattern from October to December increasing the risk of heat waves, flash floods and landslides, particularly across central and southern California.<\/p>\n

But while El Ni\u00f1o can increase winter precipitation and help reduce dry vegetation, Strenfel cautioned that \u201cit\u2019s not guaranteed,\u201d noting that previous strong El Ni\u00f1o years have still brought near-average rainfall.<\/p>\n

PG&E expands prevention<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Since PG&E began its first\u00a0Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS)<\/a>\u00a0program in 2019 to mitigate such risks, the company has executed roughly 36 shutoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not easy decisions, but they have to be made to protect the communities that we serve,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to put lines underground, we want to harden infrastructure, we want to remove vegetation, we want to do other things that reduce the risk, but let\u2019s say we have overhead lines and there\u2019s a high wind event coming, then the last resort is a public safety power shutoff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom Smith, PG&E\u2019s senior manager of customer emergency planning and operations, said those pre-PSPS investments have expanded significantly in recent years across the 60% to 70% of California\u2019s wooded territory that is within PG&E\u2019s service territory.<\/p>\n

In 2021, the company piloted a program to enhance power line safety settings so select circuits can cut power in one-tenth of a second if a tree branch or animal contacts a line, reducing the chance a spark reaches dry ground fuel; the program was expanded the following year\u00a0to cover<\/a>\u00a0all circuits in high fire-threat districts, and now protects over 47,000 miles of powerlines statewide.<\/p>\n

Over 100,000 miles of overhead powerlines are inspected by PG&E annually, leading to the pruning or removal of more than 1 million trees that may cause a wildfire or outage.<\/p>\n

PG&E has also installed more than 1,600 weather stations and over 700 wildfire detection cameras statewide.<\/p>\n

Resources for Californians<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Illustrating the scale of vulnerability Californians face, Smith said the utility estimates that of its 5.8 million customers, more than 80% have some form of access and functional needs (AFN), including older adults, people with disabilities, households with young children, people with limited English proficiency and residents who rely on public transportation.<\/p>\n

While all customers may\u00a0sign up for outage alerts by phone or email<\/a>, those enrolled in the\u00a0Medical Baseline Program<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 which requires a doctor\u2019s signoff \u2014 may receive additional alerts, discounted electricity rates, backup power assistance and a monthly credit for running medical equipment like oxygen machines or sleep apnea monitors.<\/p>\n

Customers who don\u2019t qualify may\u00a0self-identify as vulnerable<\/a>\u00a0to receive extra shutoff notice and support for rebates, discounts and other programs like portable battery distribution.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy favorite program,\u201d said Smith, \u201cis the Backup Power Transfer Meter Program, where we\u2019ll come in and install a specialized meter that will allow you to plug a generator right into the meter itself, and then you can run everything in your house normally if the generator is big enough without having to run extension cords.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about generator risk, he said the danger isn\u2019t the appliance itself but improper installation, which can \u201cbackfeed\u201d power into the grid and endanger line workers during outages.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year we hear of a very tragic story of someone running a generator inside a house and then dying of carbon monoxide exposure,\u201d Smith explained, urging customers to never run a generator indoors, and to notify PG&E if they have a generator in order to get rebates and transfer help ahead of outages.<\/p>\n

211 helpline<\/strong><\/h2>\n

During PSPS outages, PG&E partners with California\u2019s 211 network to help residents develop emergency plans, arrange transportation, hotel accommodations, food assistance and backup power resources.<\/p>\n

Alana Hitchcock, executive director of 211 California, described the network as \u201ca live assistance hotline, so think 911, but for every other type of help people need.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who work with us and do that safety planning, they have fewer crises during the event,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you\u2019re experiencing housing insecurity, if you\u2019re struggling to feed your family, 211 is there for you, call 211.\u201d<\/p>\n

211 is available 24\/7, offers multilingual assistance and does not require callers seeking emergency planning help to disclose immigration status.<\/p>\n

Asked about federal budget cuts, including the reconciliation bill HR.1, Hitchcock said 211\u2019s nonprofit network has felt it directly \u201cas local governments are having to change their funding to try to backfill those cuts.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that 211 California is seeking emergency state funding for hardest-hit counties even as demand climbs \u2014 the network saw \u201cup to a 400% increase in food security calls last November during the government shutdown and the\u00a0SNAP crisis<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

With California now entering its most dangerous wildfire months, Strenfel said preparation is the most important defense for residents regardless of how this year\u2019s weather ultimately develops.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter what the situation looks like,\u201d he said, \u201cwe\u2019re going to be prepared to take action.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BySelen Ozturk\u00a0 Jul 15, 2026 As...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ca-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=82598"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82599,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82598\/revisions\/82599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=82598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=82598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=82598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}