Around 2,000 Pacific Gas and Electric customers are without power in Solano County as the utility company implements its Public Safety Power Shutoffs. Winds blasting through

A California utility shut off power in 19 counties in the northern and central part of the state as a major “diablo wind” — notorious in autumn for its hot, dry gusts — spiked the risk of power lines sparking a wildfire.

As California braced for critical fire conditions starting Thursday afternoon, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. officials said a quick-moving storm that produced rain in some locations helped planners reduce the number of counties and customers facing public safety power shutoffs through the weekend to roughly 20,