SoCal Edison says its tools could have sparked Silverado Fireplace
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Edison, of Southern California, said his equipment may have sparked rapid wildfire, forcing evacuation orders for around 100,000 people and seriously injuring two firefighters on Monday as high winds across the state resulted in power cuts being reduced to hundreds of thousands around such a possibility to prevent .
A smoky fire exploded over 29 square kilometers after it broke out at dawn in Orange County, south of Los Angeles. Gusts pushed flames along the ridges of the bush in Silverado Canyon and near homes in the sprawling city of Irvine, home to around 280,000 people. There was no containment.
Two firefighters, one 26 and the other 31 years old, were seriously injured while fighting the fire, according to the district fire department, which did not provide details of the occurrence of the injuries. They suffered second and third degree burns on large parts of their bodies and were intubated in a hospital, officials said.
In a report to the State Public Utilities Commission, Edison of southern California said she was investigating whether her electrical equipment caused the fire. The brief report states that a “lashing wire” connecting a telecommunications line to a support cable may have struck a 12,000-volt power line across it, and an investigation was ongoing.
The report came when SCE shut down around 38,000 households and businesses in five counties – including the fire areas – as a security measure against gusts that knocked down equipment or threw branches or other vegetation into power lines. However, the utility had reduced this to below 16,500 as the winds temporarily eased on Monday evening.
More than 90,000 people in the fire area were under evacuation orders. Nearby, a fire in the Yorba Linda area had grown to nearly 12.2 square kilometers and triggered the evacuation of at least 10,000 people.
During the fire in the Irvine area, Kelsey Brewer and her three roommates decided to leave their townhouse before the evacuation order was received. The question was where to go in the pandemic. They opted for the house of her friend’s mother, who has plenty of space and lives alone.
“We literally talked about it this morning,” Brewer said, adding that she is fortunate to have a safe place. “We can only imagine how crazy everyone else feels. You can’t feel safe anywhere. “
Helicopters that dropped water and fire retardants were grounded for most of the afternoon because high winds made flying unsafe. However, a large air tanker and other planes began to fall again a few hours before sunset.
In the northern part of the state, Pacific Gas & Electric began re-energizing some of the 350,000 customers – an estimated 1 million people – in 34 counties that were left behind on Dark Sunday due to some of the fiercest winds of the fire season.
PG&E said electricity was restored to nearly 100,000 customers as the winds subsided in some areas and electricity returned to the other homes and buildings by Tuesday evening after crews conducted air and ground inspections to make repairs and ensure safety.
A dozen damage reports have been received, said PG & E.
In many parts of PG & E’s huge service area, however, the fire hazard was far from over.
“We’re already seeing the winds picking up again,” said Scott Strenfel, head of meteorology at PG&E, in some regions with bone-dry humidity that created extreme fire hazards Monday night.
Winds were expected to calm down on Monday evening before renewing on Tuesday, the National Meteorological Service warned. Officials extended a red flag extreme fire hazard warning to the region’s eastern and northern mountain areas until 5:00 p.m. Tuesday.
The safety shutdowns likely prevented dangerous fires last night. It is almost impossible to imagine that winds of this magnitude have not started major fires in the past few years, ”Daniel Swain, climate researcher at UCLA and the National Center for Atmospheric Research, said on Twitter.
A second round of gusts is expected to sweep through the same areas on Monday evening.
Scientists have said that climate change has made California much drier, which means trees and other plants are more flammable. October and November are traditionally the worst months for fires, but as of this year 8,600 forest fires in the state scorched a record 16,600 square kilometers and destroyed approximately 9,200 homes, businesses, and other buildings. There were 31 deaths.
The blackouts marked the fifth time this year that Pacific Gas & Electric, the country’s largest utility, turned off electricity for customers to reduce the risk of blackouts or contaminated power lines or other equipment that flames in bone-dry weather and gusty conditions could ignite winds.
Conditions could match those of devastating fires in California’s wine country in 2017 and last year’s Kincade Fire, which devastated Sonoma County north of San Francisco last October, the National Weather Service said. Firefighters said PG&E transmission lines started this fire, which destroyed hundreds of homes and caused nearly 100,000 people to flee.
Many of the devastating fires this year were triggered by thousands of dry lightning strikes, but some are still being investigated for possible electrical causes. While the largest California fires have been completely or significantly contained, more than 5,000 firefighters remain exposed to 20 flames, according to state firefighters.
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