Utility company Southern California Edison shut off power to 5,000 customers in Los Angeles and Ventura counties on Thursday — Thanksgiving Day — amid elevated fire danger due to strong winds, and warned that over 100,000 additional customers could also see their power turned off.
Southern California Edison shut off power to 2,041 in Los Angeles County and 2,958 customers in Ventura County as of 1:00 P.M. local time.
At least 106,681 customers in the Southland could also see their power turned off today and Friday. At least 51,000 San Bernardino County customers alone could be affected.
The National Weather Service reports that winds of up to 60 miles per hour are possible Thursday and Friday in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, and across the Inland Empire.
CBS Los Angeles notes:
Beginning in August and lasting through October, there were several heat waves in California which sparked rolling blackouts for the first time since 2001, and helped contribute to the spread of a historic number of wildfires up and down the state which destroyed thousands of homes and forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate.
SCE notified California state regulators that its equipment may have been to blame for sparking the Silverado Fire, which broke out east of Irvine late last month, burning 13,400 acres and forcing more than 90,000 to evacuate their homes.
In 2019, Southern California Edison agreed to pay $360 million as part of a settlement admitting the utility provider’s equipment was responsible for sparking both the Thomas and Woolsey fires.
Los Angeles County is said to have received $62 million as part of the agreement.
“This settlement is an essential step toward accountability and continued recovery,” L.A. County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl said at the time.
“While this settlement won’t bring back people’s homes or businesses, it’s very important to hold SCE accountable for the devastation caused by this fire.”
Read more at Breitbart
How do they feel being unable to cook the Turkey or watch the Macys Parade or the Football Games because their power was cut off over some fake ideas
SCE has hired an independent company to do a complete check on all their above ground equipment. Talked to one of these chaps a few days ago – “We’re checking everything.” He pointed up at the nearest pole – “The ‘HIGH VOLTAGE’ sign is missing”. Hell, out here in the desert they’re all missing – plastic and desert sun. He also mentioned a visual – from ground level – check of all transformers. Trees? The creosote here grows to about four feet, with the plants generally 20 feet apart. Hardly a fire risk. Edison is undoubtedly doing similar surveys in the mountain areas that they serve. (In our area, any unusual vehicle or person is checked out – politely – but in effect, “Who are you and what are you doing here.”)
The utility is required to advise their customers of how their electricity is generated. The latest flyer enclosed with a bill: 30% is purchased from other generators – and no indication of how that 30% was generated. Coal or gas – who knows.
In the early 2000’s there were “rolling blackouts”. A code was placed on electric bills showing how likely a customer might be subjected to a blackout. Where we are we have the same code as the local military base – the last to be blacked out. The cast iron parts on our wood burning stove date back to the late 1800’s. Our overnight lows this morning: 42F outdoors, 61F indoors. We lit a small fire, brought the indoors up to 72F. Dressed properly, that was enough.