SAN DIEGO, Dec. 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- With the National
Weather Service extending the Red Flag Warning through 8 p.m., Sunday, due to high fire danger, San
Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) has mobilized numerous
resources to support local firefighting agencies, including the
Erickson Aircrane which can release 2,650 gallons of water or fire
suppressant per drop. The company has contracted to bring this
firefighting resource into the region for the last eight years
during high fire season, which unofficially ended in November.
SDG&E secured the return of the Aircrane Wednesday and
deployed the helitanker in coordination with CAL FIRE on Thursday to fight the Lilac fire in
Bonsall, Calif. near Interstate
15, north of San Diego. The
Aircrane, which is equivalent to the capacity of five fire engines,
will remain stationed in the San
Diego region for the next few weeks. On Thursday, it made 20
water drops totaling 30,000 gallons in support of firefighting
efforts.
CAL FIRE is the lead agency and
will determine the cause of this fire. Based on preliminary reports
regarding the origin of the fire and performance of the company's
system, the company has no indication that its facilities were a
source of ignition.
Below is a list of other proactive measures that SDG&E is
implementing in coordination with regional emergency response
providers to protect lives and property from wildfires:
- Since Monday, the SDG&E Emergency Operations Center has
been staffed to monitor weather conditions throughout the duration
of the event, especially the wind speeds in the high fire risk
areas of the county.
- SDG&E has staged crews and contract firefighters in the
areas where the winds are forecast to be the strongest. Proactively
locating crews in those areas can shorten response time responding
to outages.
- SDG&E more than doubled the number of contract wildland
fire-suppression trucks with trained firefighting
personnel—bringing the total to 13—and staged these crews in the
areas where winds are expected to see the highest wind gusts.
- SDG&E proactively called 170,000 customers in affected
areas to alert them of the possibility of power outages related to
high winds and reminding them to be prepared to activate their
personal emergency plan.
- SDG&E worked with the American Red Cross to set up
Community Centers for customers experiencing power outages. Red
Cross volunteers will ensure the centers are open 24/7 until they
are no longer needed.
SDG&E takes its responsibility to safely operate the
electrical system very seriously. If conditions threaten the
integrity of the system, creating an emergency, SDG&E will turn
off the power to protect the public. Some of the factors that are
taken into consideration, include but are not limited to, the
circumstances of the emergency, wind speed measurements,
temperature, humidity, field observations by SDG&E crews, and
information from CAL FIRE and other
fire agencies.
SDG&E understands the inconvenience of shutting off power
and will make every effort to restore service promptly once it is
safe to do so.
As of 3 a.m. Friday, SDG&E has
turned off power to approximately 17,000 customers for safety
reasons. SDG&E proactively called customers whose service was
turned off for safety, advising them to be sure they have adequate
emergency supplies on hand for an extended period. Current
conditions indicate that power may remain out for several days
before it can be safely restored.
Residents in high-wind areas are encouraged to monitor
SDG&E's weather page for real-time updates on conditions at
sdgeweather.com, as well as the outage page for updated restoration
times at sdge.com/outage. They are advised to be aware of the
potential for downed power lines due to gusty Santa Ana winds. Never touch a downed power
line and assume that all electrical lines are energized at all
times. Call 911 or SDG&E to report a downed power line.
SDG&E is an innovative San
Diego-based energy company that provides safe, reliable,
clean energy to better the lives of the people it serves in
San Diego and southern
Orange counties. More than 4,000
employees work to provide the cleanest, safest and most reliable
energy in the West. The company was the first to meet California's goal of delivering 33 percent of
energy from renewable sources, has fueled the adoption of electric
vehicles and energy efficiency through unique customer programs,
and supports a number of non-profit partners. SDG&E is a
subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), a Fortune 500 energy
services holding company based in San
Diego. For more information, visit SDGEnews.com or connect
with SDG&E on Twitter (@SDGE), Instagram (@SDGE) and
Facebook.
This press release contains statements that are not
historical fact and constitute forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. These statements can be identified by words such as
"believes," "expects," "anticipates," "plans," "estimates,"
"projects," "forecasts," "contemplates," "assumes," "depends,"
"should," "could," "would," "will," "confident," "may," "can,"
"potential," "possible," "proposed," "target," "pursue," "outlook,"
"maintain," or similar expressions or discussions of guidance,
strategies, plans, goals, opportunities, projections, initiatives,
objectives or intentions. Forward-looking statements are not
guarantees of performance. They involve risks, uncertainties and
assumptions. Future results may differ materially from those
expressed in the forward-looking statements.
Factors, among others, that could cause actual results and
future actions to differ materially from those described in any
forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties relating
to: actions and the timing of actions, including decisions, new
regulations, and issuances of permits and other authorizations by
the California Public Utilities Commission, U.S. Department of
Energy, California Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources,
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Los
Angeles County Department of Public Health, states, cities and
counties, and other regulatory and governmental bodies in
the United States and other
countries in which we operate; the timing and success of business
development efforts and construction projects, including risks in
obtaining or maintaining permits and other authorizations on a
timely basis, risks in completing construction projects on schedule
and on budget, and risks in obtaining the consent and
participation of partners; the resolution of civil and criminal
litigation and regulatory investigations; deviations from
regulatory precedent or practice that result in a reallocation of
benefits or burdens among shareholders and ratepayers;
modifications of settlements; delays in, or disallowance or denial
of, regulatory agency authorizations to recover costs in rates from
customers (including with respect to regulatory assets associated
with the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station facility and 2007
wildfires) or regulatory agency approval for projects required to
enhance safety and reliability; the availability of electric power,
natural gas and liquefied natural gas, and natural gas pipeline and
storage capacity, including disruptions caused by failures in the
transmission grid, moratoriums or limitations on the withdrawal or
injection of natural gas from or into storage facilities, and
equipment failures; changes in energy markets; volatility in
commodity prices; moves to reduce or eliminate reliance on natural
gas; the impact on the value of our investment in natural gas
storage and related assets from low natural gas prices, low
volatility of natural gas prices and the inability to procure
favorable long-term contracts for storage services; risks posed by
actions of third parties who control the operations of our
investments, and risks that our partners or counterparties will be
unable or unwilling to fulfill their contractual commitments;
weather conditions, natural disasters, accidents, equipment
failures, computer system outages, explosions, terrorist attacks
and other events that disrupt our operations, damage our facilities
and systems, cause the release of greenhouse gases, radioactive
materials and harmful emissions, cause wildfires and subject us to
third-party liability for property damage or personal injuries,
fines and penalties, some of which may not be covered by insurance
(including costs in excess of applicable policy limits) or may be
disputed by insurers; cybersecurity threats to the energy grid,
storage and pipeline infrastructure, the information and systems
used to operate our businesses and the confidentiality of our
proprietary information and the personal information of our
customers and employees; capital markets and economic conditions,
including the availability of credit and the liquidity of our
investments; fluctuations in inflation, interest and currency
exchange rates and our ability to effectively hedge the risk of
such fluctuations; changes in the tax code as a result of potential
federal tax reform, uncertainty as to what proposals will be
enacted, if any, and, if enacted, how they would be applied;
changes in foreign and domestic trade policies and laws, including
border tariffs, revisions to international trade agreements, such
as the North American Free Trade Agreement, and changes that make
our exports less competitive or otherwise restrict our ability to
export or resolve trade disputes; the ability to win competitively
bid infrastructure projects against a number of strong and
aggressive competitors; expropriation of assets by foreign
governments and title and other property disputes; the impact on
reliability of San Diego Gas & Electric Company's (SDG&E)
electric transmission and distribution system due to increased
amount and variability of power supply from renewable energy
sources; the impact on competitive customer rates due to the growth
in distributed and local power generation and the corresponding
decrease in demand for power delivered through SDG&E's electric
transmission and distribution system and from possible departing
retail load resulting from customers transferring to Direct Access
and Community Choice Aggregation or other forms of distributed and
local power generation, and the potential risk of nonrecovery for
stranded assets and contractual obligations; and other
uncertainties, some of which may be difficult to predict and are
beyond our control.
These risks and uncertainties are further discussed in the
reports that Sempra Energy has filed with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC). These reports are available through the
EDGAR system free-of-charge on the SEC's
website, www.sec.gov, and on the company's
website at www.sempra.com. Investors should not
rely unduly on any forward-looking statements. These
forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and
the company undertakes no obligation to update or revise these
forecasts or projections or other forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.
Sempra South American Utilities, Sempra Infrastructure,
Sempra LNG & Midstream, Sempra Renewables, Sempra Mexico and
Infraestructura Energética Nova, S.A.B. de C.V. (IEnova) are not
the same as the California Utilities, San Diego Gas & Electric
Company (SDG&E) or Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas),
and are not regulated by the California Public Utilities
Commission.
sdge.com
Twitter: @sdge
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SOURCE San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E)