Crews Prepare for High Winds

With Halloween in the rearview mirror and Thanksgiving approaching fast, it looks like sweater weather might finally be here. But while fall may usher in cooler temperatures, it's also historically a time of heightened fire danger as Santa Ana winds start to pick up.

The National Weather Service has issued wind advisories for several counties in Southern California Edison's service area and warns of dangerous fire weather conditions on Wednesday and Thursday with forecast wind gusts of up to 85 mph.

The winds combined with locally dry vegetation will increase the risk of wildfire, meaning Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) may be necessary to protect communities.

"PSPS is a critical tool we use to prevent wildfires," said Raymond Fugere, SCE director of Wildfire Safety. "These safety shutoffs are a measure of last resort for keeping customers and communities safe, which is our top priority."

With Election Day this week, SCE understands how important it is for customers to exercise their right to vote. While no PSPS is currently expected through the end of election day, the company is working closely with state officials and county registrars of voters to support election polling stations in case of any unexpected outages. To minimize disruptions, an Incident Management Team is activated to escalate and resolve any issues.

To stay up to date on PSPS and wind-related repair outages, visit SCE's online interactive outage map at sce.com/outagemap. A list of community resources is available on the page.

If power is turned off, SCE will attempt to restore electricity to customers as fast as possible, when it is safe to do so. After the weather event ends, crews will inspect the lines to ensure nothing is damaged and determine if it is safe to re-energize the area. This means customers could be without power even after winds have ended until inspections are completed in their communities.

Where safely possible, power could be restored to customers temporarily if there are lulls in the weather. Further shutoffs may occur if winds return.

Outage and High Winds Safety Tips

• If you see a downed power line, do not touch it or anything in contact with it. Stay at least 100 feet away and call 911 immediately.
• Remember to secure any temporary structures in your backyard or business, including backyard furniture and tents, as well as patio equipment and covers used in commercial settings.
• For additional information, visit Safety Tips for High Wind Conditions.

Background on PSPS:

• Customers can review their contact information and PSPS notifications online by logging into their SCE account. Non-customers can sign up for alerts by visiting sce.com/pspsalerts.
• To help plan for potential PSPS, visit sce.com/pspsweather. This page identifies counties in SCE's service area that could be affected by dangerous weather conditions up to seven days in advance.
• PSPS are a measure of last resort to protect communities from wildfire. SCE does not shut off power based only on weather forecasts, but rather, based on actual observed conditions.
• SCE uses 1,700 weather stations in the field for real-time reporting and SCE crews actively patrol circuits before and during PSPS events to provide additional information regarding actual weather conditions.
• Before any PSPS event, SCE has plans in place to reduce the number of customers affected and potentially move some customers from affected circuits. Customers who are being switched between circuits might experience a short outage of up to 10 minutes.
• Once a circuit is cleared for inspection, restoration times are typically up to eight hours. There could be delays if helicopter, drone or foot patrols are needed or if damage is found. Some circuits can only be safely inspected in daylight and that may lead to additional delays.

For more information on PSPS decision-making, visit sce.com/psps.