Utility company Southern California Edison shut off power to 5,000 customers in Los Angeles and Ventura counties on Thursday — Thanksgiving Day — amid elevated fire danger due to strong winds, and warned that over 100,000 additional customers could also see their power turned off.
Southern California Edison shut off power to 2,041 in Los Angeles County and 2,958 customers in Ventura County as of 1:00 P.M. local time. 106,681 customers in the Southland could also see their power turned off today and Friday. At least 51,000 San Bernardino County customers alone could be affected.
The National Weather Service reports that winds of up to 60 miles per hour are possible Thursday and Friday in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, and across the Inland Empire.
CBS Los Angeles notes:
Beginning in August and lasting through October, there were several heat waves in California which sparked rolling blackouts for the first time since 2001, and helped contribute to the spread of a historic number of wildfires up and down the state which destroyed thousands of homes and forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate. SCE notified California state regulators that its equipment may have been to blame for sparking the Silverado Fire, which broke out east of Irvine late last month, burning 13,400 acres and forcing more than 90,000 to evacuate their homes.
In 2019, Southern California Edison agreed to pay $360 million as part of a settlement admitting the utility provider’s equipment was responsible for sparking both the Thomas and Woolsey fires.
Los Angeles County is said to have received $62 million as part of the agreement.
“This settlement is an essential step toward accountability and continued recovery,” L.A. County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl said at the time. “While this settlement won’t bring back people’s homes or businesses, it’s very important to hold SCE accountable for the devastation caused by this fire.”
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