Southern California Edison Responds to Area Fires
December 11 2017 - 5:41PM
Business Wire
Multiple wind-driven wildfires moving through Southern
California are affecting customers and electric service in Southern
California Edison’s service territory.
Prior to the fires, based on forecasted winds and red flag
warnings, SCE mobilized a full emergency response team, pre-staged
critical field personnel and implemented measures to mitigate
impacts of high winds and potential fires. Driven by public
safety concerns for customers in extremely high-wind areas, these
measures included a preventative power shutoff to the Idyllwild
area in Riverside County for portions of the period from December
7th through December 8th.
The Thomas fire has significantly affected customers in Ventura
and Santa Barbara counties and is continuing to threaten the
transmission lines in the area. The fire has intermittently
interrupted service for the Santa Barbara area, at times leaving
more than 85,000 customers without service. SCE is coordinating its
emergency efforts with federal, state, county and local officials.
SCE crews are continuing to monitor the situation and have
developed contingency plans that include the use of temporary
generators and re-routing of power.
Restoration of equipment is important in order to restore and
maintain service for customers. Restoration of SCE equipment
damaged by the Liberty fire is complete. Restoration of equipment
damaged in the Rye and Creek fires is targeted for completion by
December 12th, contingent on fire and weather conditions. Where
safe, restoration is ongoing in the Thomas fire area, although this
fire remains largely uncontained. All restoration work is being
conducted in close coordination with fire agencies and other first
responders to ensure public and employee safety. SCE teams will
continue to assess damage and make repairs when safe to do so.
SCE personnel have completed damage assessments in a majority of
the Thomas fire areas where access has been granted and in all of
the areas impacted by the Creek and Rye fires. More than 600 SCE
workers have been deployed on the wildfires, including those
repairing fire-damaged equipment (including damaged poles, wires
and insulators), setting poles, installing electrical equipment and
stringing wire to restore power to customers as quickly and safely
as possible. As of today, in the areas that have been inspected,
crews have replaced over 300 of the more than 500 poles that were
destroyed, while damage assessment continues in the Thomas fire
area. The company continues conducting inspections on the ground
and using aerial resources.
Edison International is supporting customers impacted by the
fires through a $250,000 donation to the Southern California
Wildfire Fund through the United Way of Greater Los Angeles. In
addition, the company has provided a $40,000 grant to United Way
Ventura County for local support of its outreach to fire victims.
SCE is working with known medically sensitive customers in the
areas impacted by the fires, including providing temporary
generators and other support for critical care customer without
power. The company also continues to work with affected customers
to offer flexible payment arrangements or bill forgiveness
depending upon the situation.
The causes of the wildfires are being investigated by CAL FIRE,
other fire agencies and the California Public Utilities Commission.
The investigations now include locations beyond those identified
last week as the apparent origin of these fires. SCE believes the
investigations now include the possible role of its facilities. SCE
continues to cooperate with the investigations. The wildfire
investigations may take a considerable amount of time to complete.
SCE will provide updated information as circumstances warrant.
Safety around Power during Outages
- Stay away from downed wires. If you see
a wire down, call 911.
- If you are using generators, do not run
them inside your home. There is a danger of carbon monoxide
poisoning from generators used indoors. Plug appliances directly
into the generator, do not plug the generator into the 220v line,
as this could cause backfeed which could electrocute crews working
on the lines.
- Stay away from crews working in or
around lines or vehicles. They are working as quickly as possible
and they should not be distracted from this dangerous work.
About Southern California Edison
An Edison International (NYSE:EIX) company, Southern California
Edison is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, serving a
population of approximately 15 million via 5 million customer
accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within Central,
Coastal and Southern California.
Safe Harbor Statement for Investors
Statements contained in this press release about the wildfires,
and other statements that are not purely historical, are
forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements
reflect our current expectations; however, such statements involve
risks and uncertainties and actual results could differ materially
from current expectations. Important factors that could cause
different results include the impact of the Thomas fire, the Creek
fire and the other wildfires, including the timing and outcome of
the investigations by CAL FIRE and the California Public Utilities
Commission and whether SCE will be liable for and able to recover
costs relating to the wildfires not covered by insurance.
Other important factors are discussed in Southern California
Edison’s Form 10-K, most recent Form 10-Q, and other reports filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available on
our website: www.edisoninvestor.com.
Edison International and Southern California Edison Company have
no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking
statements, whether due to new information, future events, or
otherwise.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171211006278/en/
Southern California EdisonMedia Contact: Media Relations, (626)
302-2255Investor Contact: Sam Ramraj, (626) 302-2540
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