Full Notification

Prepare for PG&E to shut off electricity for up to six days starting as soon as late Tuesday night to select households adjacent to and down from the Berkeley hills due to continued dry and windy weather conditions.

If you are without electricity, live in the Berkeley hills and believe you would have trouble evacuating in an emergency, you should make plans to leave as soon as possible.

Many communication platforms may not function in areas without electricity.  Those who choose to stay in the hills should make plans for food and water for six days without electricity.

Sign up for PG&E's updates at www.pge.com/psps, where you can also look up whether your home or business is affected. Be patient given that the site is getting heavy traffic. You can also sign up for PGE's zip-code specific text message alerts by texting "ENROLL" to 97633. These zip code alerts will not be specific to your home or business.

In addition, sign up for emergency alert messages from Alameda County at ACAlert.org. See our wildfire evacuation page on how to prepare a go-bag, evacuate quickly and take other steps should there be an imminent wildfire.

If you live in the potentially affected areas and you have accessibility needs or you use life sustaining medical equipment that is compromised during an outage, please plan to evacuate and please also call 311 so we can get your information.

When electricity is out, neighbors should check on neighbors. There are several fire safety measures that are critical for those without electricity:

• Don't burn anything including candles.
• If you have a generator, know how to use it safely.
• Don't idle your car in the hills.
• Don't use any heat producing tools or machines such as lawn mowers.

Even if your power isn't shut off at first, electricity may be turned off later on Wednesday. PG&E has informed Alameda County agencies that they will turn off electricity in phases.

If you see/experience any of the following, consider evacuating on your own:

• Visible fire in an adjacent home, and/or
• Visible fire in a home close by with strong winds, and/or
• Strong winds carrying smoke and/or embers through or over your neighborhood.

If you feel threatened, leave immediately. Do not wait for an evacuation order.

Berkeley residents may also contact the 311 Customer Service line at 510-981-2489 to report any dangerous conditions.

Affected areas may be without power for up to six days after the event, and may not have access to wireless service during this time. After the dry windy weather has passed and it is safe to do so, PG&E crews will inspect and restore full power.

If your devices are not working, you will be able to get information and charge your devices at Berkeley Public Library branches.  The Library will also provide 24-hour Wi-Fi access during this outage.

North Berkeley Library
1170 The Alameda, Berkeley, CA 94707

Central Library
2090 Kittredge St., 94704

South Berkeley Library
1901 Russell Street, 94703

Claremont Library
2940 Benvenue Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94705

West Branch Library
1125 University Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94702

PG&E is monitoring weather conditions and will provide rolling updates as the situation develops.

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/City_Manager/Press_Releases/2019/2019-10-08_Sign_up_for_alerts,_prepare_for_hills_evacuations.aspx