Thousands of Pacific Gas and Electric customers in the Bay Area were without power Friday after the utility shut off power in areas most at risk of high winds and fire danger.

The so-called public safety shutdowns began Thursday evening in Alameda, Contra Costa, Napa, Santa Clara, Solano and Sonoma counties, according to PG&E’s outage map. Additional outages occurred in Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties early Friday.

North of the Bay Area, The electricity was also switched off in Colusa, Glenn, Lake, Shasta and Tehama counties in areas where power lines cross through forested areas prone to wildfires.

Additional outages early Friday morning in the city of Santa Cruz and along Highway 152 north of Watsonville, affecting thousands of customers, were not related to the public safety closures, according to the outage map.

The National Weather Service said a wind advisory was in effect until 11 p.m. Friday for the interior East Bay and eastern Santa Clara Hills and until 8 a.m. Saturday for the interior mountains of the North Bay. Offshore wind speeds were expected to be in the 25 to 35 mph range and gusts of 50 to 65 mph.

In addition, the winds and low humidity prompted the weather service to issue a red flag warning due to critical dry conditions for most of the Bay Area and Central Coast.

KPIX First Alert Weather: Current conditions, warnings, maps for your area

This is a breaking news update. More information will be added as available.