Power Company Unveils Weather Center To Cut Off Power to Malibu
Written by 991KBU on June 21, 2018
Southern California Edison invited the news media yesterday … to see a behind-the-scenes look at its new fire weather command post.
Somehow KBUU’s invitation got lost on the mail.
The power company is gearing up plans to watch fire weather closely…. and shut off electricity to areas when winds make fire danger extreme.
The utility company threatened to shut off the power to Malibu last year … during a Santa Ana windstorm.
But Edison was unable to say what exactly would trigger the shut down … how fast did the winds need to blow.
It told reporters it would turn off the power to Malibu is its line managers out here felt it necessary.
That would have meant water pumps … electric gates…. traffic lights and other key installations would have been shut off.
The power did not get turned off that day.
Now… Edison has set up a high tech weather monitoring system at its headquarters in Rosemead.
The company is installing 125 remote sensing weather stations across its 50,000 square mile service area … about one quarter of which is labeled high fire risk … including Malibu.
By adding new weather stations, meteorologists can feed temperature, humidity and wind data into several new high tech weather computer models purchased from Europe weather forecasting think tanks.
These generate five-to-seven-day forecasts … and Edison will issue internal reports predicting how a future fire could damage sensitive equipment in the field.
No tot mention … destroy homes in Malibu.
Edison is playing catch up with San Diego gas and electric … which is installed as similar weather network a decade ago.
The San Diego utility has specific permission to switch off a few circuits in a few backcountry areas when the winds get extreme down there.
Emphasis on a few circuits … in isolated mountain rural areas.
But Southern California Edison has plans to turn off entire cities … like Malibu.
And it has not gone to the Calif Public Utilities Commission for review … comment or permission.
California utility law is somewhat vague.
It does require Edison to provide electricity at all times … but it allows the company to shut off power during emergencies.
Are the frequent windstorms that hit Malibu emergencies?
Last fall the company said yes.
Three lawsuits filed earlier this year allege SCE is responsible for causing the Thomas Fire last year …. , the largest fire in California history.
One says SCE construction crews working near where the fire began in Ventura County were responsible.
Another of the lawsuits says the power company’s electric power lines ignited the fire.
The third says an exploding transformer ignited brush that burned down a resident’s home.
