Power companies in Southern California, including Edison International, are responding to the critical wildfire threat in the region. Safety power shutoffs have been conducted in wake of the fires.
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00:00As wildfires spread across Southern California, power companies need to stay ahead of any
00:04outbreaks. With more on the steps they take to keep customers and the grid safe is Jeff Monford
00:09of Southern California Edison. Jeff, thanks for being with us this morning. Happy to speak with
00:14you. Wish it was a better circumstance. As do we. What is the latest? Can you tell us about
00:19the power shutoffs and the safety behind them? Well, certainly. You know, here at Southern
00:24California Edison, our top concern is the safety of customers, crew members, and communities.
00:29And we continue to identify areas that need what we call a public safety power shutoff.
00:36As you know, we're looking at a situation with really dry vegetation on the ground,
00:41high winds that are without any humidity. And we want to make sure that if there's
00:48any possibility that we can prevent a problem that could occur if debris becomes airborne,
00:55we want to, we've been proactively shutting off power for public safety power shutoffs.
01:02So far, we've notified about 440,000 residential and business customers that we may have to turn
01:10off their power. And as of a few minutes ago, we had shut off power to about 120,000 customers.
01:18And really quickly here, there's so much danger of these power towers behind you.
01:24This is what a lot of the problems is because the winds are so strong that they can blow the
01:29lines over, correct? Actually, the real issue is not so much the lines coming down or the wind
01:36damaging the grid. It's more about airborne debris. And that would also include trees coming in
01:42contact with lines and pulling them down. And that really would happen more at the much more
01:48local level with ordinary poles, not the high transmission towers in my background photo.
01:56Thank you so much for joining us as important information here that for a lot is unfamiliar
02:01here. So we appreciate you breaking it down and giving us the behind the scenes,
02:06Jeff, there with Edison Power. We appreciate,
02:09again, you being live with us this morning on Accuweather Early.
02:12Of course.