CAL FIRE to Increase Staffing after Bay Area Red Flag Warning

The National Weather Service issued red flag warnings for the entire Bay Area beginning Sunday evening, when meteorologists say the most powerful offshore winds of the season could cause widespread damage and incite new wildfires.

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. plans another round of preemptive shut-offs starting Sunday to reduce the risk of fires sparked by downed power lines. Lafayette, Moraga and Orinda are among the Bay Area communities that expect to be affected.

Weather models are predicting wind patterns similar to those that sparked the Kincade Fire last year — except that conditions are even drier now than in previous wildfire seasons.

"It won't take much to get a fire started," said National Weather Service meteorologist David King.

CAL FIRE said it would increase staffing and stockpile equipment in critical areas in case fire breaks out.

The ridge lines and peaks of the North Bay and East Bay will be hardest hit. The red flag warning, indicating extreme fire danger, will take effect in those areas Sunday at 11 a.m. and run until Tuesday at 11 a.m. Wind gusts of up to 100 mph in isolated locations such as the Mayacamas Mountains on the border of Napa and Sonoma counties are possible, meteorologists said

A separate red flag warning for the rest of the Bay Area — including the Peninsula and the South Bay as well as the Santa Cruz Mountains — will take effect at 8 p.m. Sunday and extend until Monday at 11 a.m.

The blustery conditions won't be confined to the hills: Big cities including San Francisco, Oakland and Santa Rosa could see gusting winds between 30 and 40 mph.

Lafayette, Moraga and Orinda officials alerted residents Friday that they expect PG&E to cut power Sunday at 4 p.m. The shut-offs could last until Wednesday morning, they said. It was not immediately clear how many homes in those communities would be affected.

Residents and businesses are bracing for the outages. Claudio Cravero, the director of operations at Tutu's Food and Drink, a restaurant and market in Lafayette, said he is holding out hope that power stays on. Tutu's bought a generator in June and will use it to keep food cold if the power goes out, but it will have to close to customers if PG&E cuts power, Cravero said.

"We'll lose money if we're without power for two or three days, and employees will miss out on income," said Cravero, noting that Tutu's employs 75 people. "Not a great situation."

PG&E was to provide more information Friday night to cities and counties that are expected to be affected by power shut-offs.

CAL FIRE said Friday it is sending fire engines and aircraft to critical locations in preparation for Sunday's expected fierce winds. In addition to stockpiling reserve equipment, the agency is working with the Office of Emergency Services to beef up staffing at fire departments in Northern California, including the North Bay, said Daniel Berlant, assistant deputy director of CAL FIRE.

The agency is on "high alert" to prevent any wind-sparked flames from growing into destructive infernos akin to the Tubbs and Atlas fires of 2017, Berlant said.

"We are making sure additional aircraft and engines are available, so that if a fire breaks out, we can respond with more than normal resources," he said.

Additionally, firefighters are monitoring the Glass Fire, which got to full containment on Tuesday, to prevent flareups caused by stray embers.

"With the winds, we'll be watching those hot spots even closer," Berlant said.

Wind events such as the one anticipated Sunday are normally confined to the Bay Area's interior valleys and hills. But this time, the risk extends into highly populated areas that do not typically experience red flag conditions, said National Weather Service meteorologist Roger Gass.

"If a fire were to start, it would rapidly spread, including down in the Santa Clara Valley," Gass said.

Along Mark West Springs Road in Santa Rosa, where the 2017 Tubbs Fire nearly eradicated neighborhoods on Old Redwood Highway, a sign on Friday warned of extreme fire danger near two subdivisions filled with new and under-construction homes.

Many homeowners had backed their cars into their driveways — perhaps for a quicker escape.

Erik Figueroa, a medical assistant at the nearby Santa Rosa Community Health Clinic, shot hoops on his lunch break at an empty park.

A Sonoma resident who works in construction with his father, the 23-year-old said he hadn't seen or heard anyone packing up cars or trucks but assumed that many in the area were ready to go.

"I would guess people would be prepared," he said, adding that his family was evacuated in 2017.

"It's always in the back of your mind," he said.

The high dry winds and threat of fire every fall is wearying, he said.

"It makes things stressful for everyone," he said.

Chronicle staff writers Michael Cabanatuan and Shwanika Narayan contributed to this report.

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