Berkeley Hills homes could face power outage Thursday due to fire safety concerns

As the East Bay expects to experience several days of dangerous winds from Diablo this week, Pacific Gas and Electric Company said it may preemptively cut off power to 4,705 Alameda County customers, including many in Berkeley, starting at 5:15 a.m. and 6 a.m. Thursday. Power could remain out until 2 p.m. Saturday.

The outages, if instituted, would primarily affect homes and businesses in the Berkeley Hills, along and on either side of Grizzly Peak Boulevard, as well as the main UC Berkeley campus, according to the PG&E website. A large concentration of planned closures were in neighborhoods adjacent to Tilden Regional Park.

PG&E plans preventive outages when weather conditions make wildfire ignition particularly likely, such as after long periods without rain, during high winds that could damage electrical equipment, or when the National Weather Service issues “red flag warnings.”

Several of those warnings were scheduled to go into effect early Thursday morning in and around northern Lake County and large swaths of the Sierras, but none in the East Bay, according to the NWS.

The Diablo winds, so named for the mountain they pass through directly east of Berkeley, “will peak Thursday in the northern and central Sierra, as well as portions of the North and East Bays,” according to PG&E’s announcement. Statewide, PG&E warned about 70,000 customers that their power could be shut off.

Berkeley typically receives onshore winds from the San Francisco Bay, which bring cool, humid air across the city. This week, the city is expected to experience several days of hot, dry offshore winds, the kind of conditions that precipitated the devastating 1923 Berkeley Firestorm and the deadly 1991 Tunnel Fire.

Although the wind is expected to blow from the east and northeast later this week, it is not expected to blow very fast, with projections between 5 and 7 mph, according to the NWS.

“We’re more concerned about places at higher elevations, above 1,000 feet,” NWS meteorologist Joe Merchant told Berkeleyside. At sea level, like in Berkeley, “the winds won’t be so violent.”

Firefighters advised residents in potentially outage areas to keep their phones and medical devices charged and to keep items such as flashlights and emergency power sources on hand.

“PG&E is also planning a community resource center on the Clark Kerr campus with device charging, wifi, blankets, air conditioning, bottled water, snacks and other supplies,” Deputy Fire Chief Keith May said in an email.

PG&E customers can search their own addresses on the utility’s website to see if they are included in the planned outage.

PG&E typically imposes several preventative shutdowns each year; if this comes into force, it will be the sixth for 2026.

Of the 4,700 county customers expected to lose power, 213 are in PG&E’s “Medical Basic Program,” meaning they rely on reliable electricity for their medical needs. The utility offers program members discounted energy allocations as well as additional warnings and notifications when outages are pending.

Editor’s note: This article was updated on October 14 with additional information.