- In an effort to mitigate fire risks, Southern California Edison has shut off power to tens of thousands of customers.
- Before power can be restored to affected areas, crews must visually inspect each line for damage and debris.
This map is no longer being updated. For the latest information on power outages near you, check Southern California Edison’s website.
An extreme wind event has prompted Southern California Edison to shut off power to thousands of customers across the region. The map below shows which areas are currently without electricity and the areas that are under warning for further outages.
Two fires ignited amid a Santa Ana wind event that was generating 70-to-80-mph wind gusts in Ventura and Los Angeles counties on Wednesday.
While winds remained a concern Thursday, almost 70,000 utility customers across the region had power cut “due to heightened wildfire risk,” according to Southern California Edison. About a third of the shutoffs were initiated in Ventura County, but power was also cut across Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange counties. More than 200,000 others in the region were under consideration for additional safety shutoffs to minimize additional fires sparking from electric equipment through at least Thursday, SCE reported.
By Thursday afternoon, the utility was slowly re-energizing lines, and planned to have most back to full capacity by Friday. Before power can be restored to an area, crews must inspect each distribution line for damage or debris.
Without power
Under consideration for shutoff
Data current as of Dec. 11, 9:02 p.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.
Public safety power shutoffs are aimed at mitigating threats, often in areas where its equipment could be at high risk of sparking a wildfire. Thousands more shutoffs were being considered through at least Thursday, Edison reported.
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 wind-blown 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 shut off 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.
The Mountain and Broad fires, driven by the region’s most extreme wind event in years, already have caused injuries, officials said. More than 90 homes have been damaged or destroyed in Camarillo Heights and thousands more are threatened. Evacuation orders were in place Thursday.
If you see a downed power line, the Edison spokesman added, assume it is live, stay at least 100 feet away and call 911.
Additional development by Times data and graphics journalist Sandhya Kambhampati. Staff writers Noah Goldberg, Grace Toohey, Clara Harter, Jireh Deng, Sandra McDonald, Noah Haggerty and Richard Winton contributed to this report.
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