Thousands Of SoCal Edison Customers Still Without Power Due To Precautionary Shutoffs
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – Thousands of Southern California Edison customers were without electricity Tuesday morning across the Southland due to public safety power shutoffs brought on by Santa Ana winds.
As of 9:30 a.m., 16,440 customers were without power in San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura and Riverside counties.
San Bernardino made up the majority of the power shutoffs, with over 10,500, while L.A. County had a little over 3,400.
SCE had notified more than 127,000 customers Sunday that their power could be shut off to prevent its equipment from sparking wildfires during the Santa Ana wind event.
SCE began shutting off power Monday morning to thousands of residents in Simi Valley and Jurupa Valley to lower the risk of snapped electrical lines.
Wind gusts hit speeds of up to 96 miles per hour Monday. Most of the region is currently under a red flag warning, which expires at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
Despite its efforts Monday, SCE notified California state regulators that its equipment may have been to blame for sparking the Silverado Fire east of Irvine which has burned more than 11,200 acres and forced more than 90,000 to evacuate their homes.
Last week, Ventura County fire investigators reported that the Easy and Maria fires, which broke out in October of last year, were both caused by electrical equipment failures. In the Easy Fire, SCE equipment was to blame, officials said.
In November of 2019, while the Easy and Maria fires were still burning, SoCal Edison reached a $360 million settlement admitting that its equipment was also responsible for starting the 2017 Thomas Fire and the 2018 Woolsey Fire.
