Strong winds were blowing in Southern California; many devices to turn off the power

SAN BERNARDINO, California (KABC) – Dangerous winds in Santa Ana are moving into Southland, bringing an increased risk of fire, as thousands are threatened with power outages.

Southern California on Tuesday will be hit by the trifecta of high winds, low relative humidity and low humidity, which will cause firefighters to be on alert.

A huge area is affected – from Santa Clarita to the highlands, from the Los Angeles Basin to the Santa Monica Mountains to the coast. At highest altitudes, gusts could reach up to 90 mph.

“Right now we’re under gunfire,” said Roland Sprewell of the LA County Fire Department. “We have a constant fire season that just doesn’t seem to want to give up.”

In response, local fire departments are staffing. I send strike teams to places with the highest risk. It also restricts parking in high-intensity areas to ensure that fire trucks will have a parking spot in the event of a fire.

In anticipation of extreme winds, Edison in Southern California is already shutting down energy for some of its customers.

The wind was already blowing in the North Park neighborhood of San Bernardino on Monday afternoon, where residents are preparing for another public safety shutdown.

“Everyone is buying generators now, it’s pretty normal,” said James Garcia.

“It’s not a good normal. Nothing is a good normal anymore,” Joe Lunt said.

Many of the neighbors have invested in power generators because of the frequency with which the electricity is turned off during wind events.

“Today we made sure we had enough oil and gas to make sure the generator could run for 25 to 30 hours. The most we were stopped was 28 hours,” said Mary Beth Norris.

Norris says her big concern is her elderly neighbors.

“The thing that scares me the most is people who are on oxygen cars, they can’t maintain it once the battery goes on their oxygen car.”

Potentially, more than 32,000 Edison customers in Southern California in San Bernardino County could see outages in the next few days.

In Ventura County, more than 113,000 customers were preparing for a potential outage.

“Very strong and harmful winds are expected Monday through Wednesday morning, and with no rain in the last four weeks, strong winds and high temperatures bring an increased risk for wildfires,” Ron Gales told Southern California Edison.

In Anaheim, strong winds forced officials to close the massive COVID-19 vaccination site at Disneyland on Tuesday. Tuesday’s appointments will be rescheduled for another day, according to Anaheim officials.

Turning off the power is designed to reduce the risk of fire caused by electrical equipment when strong winds are forecast. Several major California fires have been linked to electrical equipment.

SCE customers can sign up for alerts to let them know if power will be turned off.

Some of the largest and most devastating fires in California history have been related to electrical equipment.