An extreme wind event has prompted Southern California Edison to shut off power to tens of thousands of customers in Los Angeles and Ventura counties and the Inland Empire. The map below shows which areas are currently without electricity and which are under warning for further outages.
Officials at the National Weather Service issued a rare “Particularly Dangerous Situation” red flag warning to last through 2 p.m. Tuesday in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. A regular red flag warning is expected to last through Wednesday afternoon.
Areas within the Particularly Dangerous Situation include large swaths of Ventura County, such as Thousand Oaks, Ventura, Oxnard, Fillmore and Ojai. In L.A. County, affected areas include Malibu, Canoga Park, Santa Clarita and Acton.
With gusts up to 65 mph, the dangerous winds, along with dry conditions, are currently driving the Franklin fire in Malibu. As of Tuesday at 8 a.m., the fire is 2,200 acres.
Under consideration for shutoff
Data current as of Dec. 10, 8:59 a.m.
The map on Edison’s website is updated in near-real time, though a spokesman said significant events could result in some delays. The utility also encouraged customers to enter their address for more information about their outage, such as the duration of increased fire risk.
Hundreds of thousands of Edison customers are under consideration for a power shutoff while dangerous wind conditions persist.
Public safety power shutoffs are aimed at mitigating threats, often in areas where its equipment could be at high risk of sparking a wildfire.
The utility’s meteorological teams use their own weather models and government data to weigh possible shutoffs. They monitor not only wind speeds and gusts, but the presence of windblown debris and vegetation dryness, using hundreds of weather stations and sensors.
“We always try to turn off power in the most localized way possible,” a spokesman for Southern California Edison said. “We know that this is not just an inconvenience. We know these outages are actual hardships, and turning off the power really is the measure of last resort.”
While Edison tries to give customers notice of a shutoff three days in advance, that is not always possible, the spokesman said.
“This is a phenomenon of the increasing effects of climate change on weather. We have more weather extremes that can change more quickly than we might be accustomed to,” he said.
If you see a downed power line, the Edison spokesman added, assume it is live, stay at least 100 feet away and call 911.
