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California’s three major power companies are considering shutting off power this week in areas where dangerously strong winds are expected to increase the risk of wildfires.
The planned safety outage could leave more than 350,000 customers without power from Kern County to San Diego County. Parts of the region are under a red flag warning, the highest level of fire weather warning, for “particularly dangerous conditions.”
Just last month, when a wildfire broke out in Ventura County, making it one of the most destructive wildfires in Southern California’s recent history, officials faced similarly dangerous Santa Ana winds and low temperatures. He warned me about the humidity. Strong winds caused the fire to spread to nearby areas, eventually destroying more than 240 buildings, including homes.
Southern California Edison is considering rolling blackouts for more than 250,000 customers across a wide swath of its service area starting Monday “due to the increased risk of wildfires.”
The majority of customers are in Ventura, Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, with more than 40,000 households in each county potentially without power. Approximately 4,000 SCE customers in Kern County may also be without power.
SCE spokesman David Eisenhauer said the utility could cut power anytime between Monday and at least Wednesday as wind concerns remain.
San Diego Gas & Electric is considering closing more than 117,000 customers across San Diego and Orange counties. Power outages are possible from noon Monday through Friday, the power company said.
Pacific Gas & Electric was also considering cutting power to about 600 customers in rural Kern County, PG&E spokesman Jeff Smith said. The power company said power outages were likely to continue until at least Wednesday “due to strong winds and dry conditions.”
Rolling public safety power outages have been initiated after a downed power line was found to be the cause of California’s deadliest and most destructive fire. This prevention strategy is adopted to prevent fires from starting from power infrastructure during high winds.
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