By RHEA-FRANCES TETLEY
Staff Writer
About 100 people attended a public webinar held by Southern California Edison. The topic: Proactive measures SCE is undertaking to address issues they believe may allow fires to begin from their equipment and how residents can deal with PSPS (Public Safety Power Shutoffs).
SCE explained a PSPS is when the utility temporarily shuts off their power gird to reduce the risk of its equipment causing a fire. They said they consider all weather conditions, including strong winds, dry vegetation and low humidity, before making the decision to call for a PSPS.
It was their suggestion that every resident sign up for notifications of a PSPS and other outages, at the SCE PSPS webpage: https://www.sce.com/outages-safety/outage-preparedness/outage-types/public-safety-power-shutoff-psps. PSPS are predicted about 72 hours in advance so those affected can prepare.
Once a PSPS begins, SCE noted, it will be at least eight to 72 hours after the weather situation ends before the power can be restored as SCE must inspect all the lines in the affected area to be sure no damage has occurred that will result in a fire when the lines are re-energized.
Another important webpage they recommended was the SCE wildfire webpage, https://www.sce.com/outages-safety/wildfire-safety, which highlights the many tools SCE is using to manage wildfire issues. They mentioned their vegetation control methods around poles, their weather stations in over 2,000 places throughout their service area to monitor fire potential, their upgraded smart grid and inspection techniques which are designed to safeguard their customers against fire starts.
SCE recommends that everyone be prepared for wildfire season with evacuation plans for every family member; they offer numerous resources and items to have in an emergency kit on their SCE emergency preparedness website, https://www.sce.com/outages-safety/outage-preparedness/emergency-preparedness.
On their website they offer suggestions on choosing a generator and the advantages of a portable generator compared to a installed generator and the requirements for each. It is likely power will be interrupted at some point during the year at all households SCE serves either through a PSPS, a maintenance upgrade or other power outage.
SCE has numerous plans for back-up battery service for those who use life-saving medical equipment. They need to sign up in advance for those programs at SCE Customer Programs & Resources, https://www.sce.com/outages-safety/safety-resources-support and SCE Critical Care Backup Battery Program at https://www.sce.com/outages-safety/outage-preparedness/critical-care. They also have financial support programs for those with the medical equipment at SCE Medical Baseline Program, https://www.sce.com/save-money/rebates-financial.
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