HEALDSBURG, Calif. ? Firefighters struggled Friday against a wildfire burning across Sonoma County wine country as Northern California braced for a weekend of intense winds, critical fire danger and mass power outages.
The Kincade fire has burned more than 16,000 acres in northern Sonoma County. It has forced thousands to flee their homes.
The entire town of Geyserville and vineyards in the region were forced to evacuate as the blaze, pushed by wind gusts topping 70 mph, burned out of control.
Some Geyserville residents evacuated in the darkness after PG&E shut power off to areas in Sonoma County and the Kincade fire crossed California 128, moving west toward homes in the town of 929 people.
Fire officials said 49 structures were destroyed and the Geysers geothermal facilities run by Calpine Corp. reported some damage.
The cause of the fire was still under investigation, but some suspicion was already turning to transmission lines owned by embattled Pacific Gas & Electric.
PG&E, which went bankrupt after some of California?s most destructive fires were tied to malfunctions of its lines, said Thursday that one of its transmission lines experienced problems Wednesday night around the area where the fire broke out.
In a mandatory report sent to the California Public Utilities Commission, the company said one of its workers noticed that the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection had taped off the area. PG&E said Cal Fire also pointed out a ?broken jumper on the same tower.?
PG&E had been shutting off power to residents to avoid fires sparked by electric lines. The utility company said nearly 28,000 people in Sonoma County, including Geyserville and the surrounding area, lost power when distribution lines were shut off at 3 p.m. Wednesday. The company said transmission lines, which operate at a higher voltage, remained energized at the time the fire started.
Transmission lines generally carry electricity from power plants to substations. Distribution lines deliver power directly to homes and businesses.
PG&E has cut off power to millions to avoid more power line-sparked fires.
But this weekend?s planned power outages could be the largest yet in California.
PG&E, which has 5.4 million electric customers and provides power to 16 million Californians, was projecting Thursday that it could shut off power across nearly all of its territory in Northern California on Sunday and Monday because of ferocious gusts.
?This system will likely be the strongest event of the year from a wind perspective,? the utility said on its website. ?Federal forecast agencies are in alignment that this will be a high-risk weather event.?
