SCE Turned Off Power 30 Miles Away From Where Its Lines (Apparently) Caused Deadly Fire
Written by 991KBU on October 15, 2019
Southern California Edison has officially notified the state that its equipment suffered a malfunction … at the same time and place that the deadly Saddleridge Fire broke out last week.
It will takes months … maybe years … before the official blame is assessed.
The death toll is at two … this is a homicide investigation.
But by all rational clues … it appears that this is the third Sopithehrn California Edsion power pole in two years to ignite surronding brush in during medium-powered windstorms.
The death toll for the three fires … above 50.
And it would be the third time that such a disaster occured outside areas that had either been blacked out for safety reasons … or warned that blackouts were possible.
Again … there are two typos of power lines.
Distribution circuits are on poles in local neighborhoods.
They are connected to a grid of transmission lines … big poles or towers … that bring the power in from distance generating sources.
it was a transmission pole that apparently caused last week’s fire.
Los Angeles arson investigators have confirmed that the deadly Saddleridge fire started beneath a Southern California Edison high voltage transmission tower in Sylmar.
Those electrical lines were apparently live … feeding power through LA DWP territory into other parts of the SoCal Edison system.
Edison had put a nearby canyon onto the list of circuits that may have been be cut off
Edison has said it did not de-energize any lines in that area despite shutting off power to more than 20,000 customers the day the fire broke out.
That night … at about 9 p.m. Thursday, the nearest official weather station recorded 29 mph sustained winds and up to 53 mph gusts.
Under state law … power lines are supposed to be able to withstand peak wind gusts of 92 miles per hour … for three seconds.
