KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
Possible power outages in Santa Clarita are expected this week due to high winds with gusts of up to 70 miles per hour and elevated fire risk, officials said.
As a result of the strong, dry winds, Southern California Edison officials are considering shutting power off in high fire risk areas in an effort to avoid sparking a fire in the event power lines come down.
When SCE conducts their emergency shutdowns, they are set to send out letters in advance notifying the customers who are going to be affected of the scheduled power outages, according to officials.
As of Tuesday, the SCE website has indicated that certain parts of Santa Clarita may have scheduled power outages; however, the exact location has not yet been determined, according to officials.
Areas outside the City of Santa Clarita could also be affected, including Acton, Agua Dulce and Lake Hughes.
Starting Wednesday evening, the Santa Clarita Valley is expected to get its first Santa Ana winds of the year, and could see 25 to 40 mph winds with gusts up to 70 mph, said Lisa Phillips, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
“We are expecting strong winds. With that, they will bring warm, dry conditions,” Phillips said.
On Thursday between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m., the valley could have sustained winds of 25 to 40 mph with gusts up to 55 mph and 5 percent humidity levels, according to officials.
“Mountain areas could expect to see gusts up to 70 mph,” Phillips said.
Friday conditions are expected to be the same, although winds are expected to start diminishing, according to officials.
As of Tuesday, the National Weather Service has not issued a red flag warning.
However, red flag warnings are typically issued shortly prior to when winds are expected to be the strongest, according to officials.
To see the full list of possible power outages in the Santa Clarita Valley, click here.
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What a good reason to put solar panels on your roof! Not only will you be sure to have electricity in these high wind events, but it will save you money! Better than a stinky and noisey generator. There are rebates if you do it by December 31 and it will reduce your power bill. Plus it will reduce our air pollution. I am having a contractor come to give me a bid tomorrow. I planned this a week ago, but now thinking this is almost an omen that I really should do it (although I don’t believe in such things).
Sorry to disappoint you, but the solar inverter will automatically shutdown when the grid goes down. If you really want to stay up, you need to install a battery system and transfer switch to isolate your home. SOURCE: worked for a utility in residential planning
From the Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions Department:
An irony could be waiting to happen here should fire(s) be started
by using generators during a power outage with high winds present.
If I lose power, I will definitely be running my generator.
PG&E and SCE both have high tension power lines and towers that have been in place since the late 1800’s. That’s right! Some towers are over 100 years old!
But maintenance and service to these lines and towers has been non-existent.
BTW – Paradise was not decimated and the lives of 100 people were not destroyed by downed trees! The fire was sparked by high tension power lines (outside of town) swinging so hard in the wind that they touched each other and shorted out! The resulting explosion drops the lines and tons of sparks down into the untamed and overgrown brush below and poof! Simple clearIng of the brush could have stopped the Paradise fire from occurring but they refused to do the easy stuff, the basic maintenance under their towers.
Keeping the lines from touching are easily resolved with technology from the 1940’s and 1950’s – but was never done! Both companies could have been investing in their infrastructure for decades but they did nothing – literally for decades.
Power lines could have easily been (albeit slowly) moved underground where they are much safer. This has never been on the radar of either company. Too costly.
So what has our government done about the complete negligence of these murderous (literally) utility companies that are unequivocally responsible for 1000’s of fires, deaths and destruction over the years??
They passed legislation to protect them from the oncoming lawsuits – that’s WHAT! (SB 901) The legislation was signed by Brown and allows them to pass nearly ALL the costs of those lawsuits onto the consumer by increasing fees and rates!
Now this. They continue to push their ineptitude onto the consumer. Instead of fixing the problems they will simply shutdown the power with no concern over their customers needs.
Meanwhile, the CEO’s have been in hiding since last years fires, collecting their multimillion dollar salaries and allowing things to continue as usual.