PG&E power shutoffs leave over 11,000 without power in Bay Area amid elevated fire risk

Power outages in the Bay Area topped 11,000 customers on Thursday as parts of the region were seeing critical fire weather conditions and an elevated fire risk possibly into the weekend.Pacific Gas and Electric said on Thursday that about 6,300 customers in Alameda and Contra Costa counties were notified that due to improving weather conditions the utility expected to restore their service by around 4 p.m. Friday. Originally, PG E said most power shutoffs were forecasted to last until Saturday afternoon.Nearly 90,000 customers across the state were being impacted as of Thursday morning.The National Weather Service said offshore winds in the higher elevations of the North Bay and East Bay interior mountains would lead to possible extreme fire behavior, with any fires that develop likely spreading rapidly.The weather service issued a red flag warning for Thursday evening through Friday morning for the North Bay interior mountains, where conditions were expected to be very dry and windy w