Some portions of San Diego and Orange counties run the risk of having a Thanksgiving with the lights out.
San Diego Gas & Electric may cut off power to a little more than 43,000 customers in specific areas because of a combination of extremely dry conditions and gusty Santa Ana winds that are expected to blow through starting Wednesday.
In what’s called Public Safety Power Shutoffs, or PSPS, utilities de-energize power in hopes of keeping electrical lines and other equipment from falling and igniting a wildfire.
“All of us at SDG&E are hoping that critical fire weather conditions do not result in having to shut off power over Thanksgiving so that our customers and employees can enjoy the holiday with their loved ones,” Kevin Geraghty, SDG&E’s chief safety officer, said in a statement.
But weather conditions can change quickly, Geraghty said, and “we wanted to let our customers know as early as possible that they could be impacted so they can make alternate holiday arrangements if needed.”
The National Weather Service has posted a Red Flag Warning starting at 4 a.m. Thanksgiving until 6 p.m. Friday. The forecasters anticipate gusts of 40 mph to 50 mph, with the strongest winds coming Thursday. Some isolated areas could see winds hit 60 mph.
Humidity will be low, falling to just 5 to 10 percent during the daytime hours of Thanksgiving and inching up to only about 10 percent on Friday.
“We are expecting critical fire weather conditions,” said Casey Oswant, a meteorologist at the San Diego office of the National Weather Service. She said the areas most likely affected will be mountains, coastal slopes into the foothills and parts of East County.
Area highlighted showing Red Flag Warning in effect for gusty winds in Southern California. The warning is in effect in San Diego County from 4 a.m. Thanksgiving until 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 26.
(National Weather Service )
San Diego has recorded just 5.27 inches of rain this year — compared to an average year that sees 9.79 inches of precipitation — that has led to parched vegetation that is quick to ignite and burn.
“With the gusty winds, the dry fuels and the dry air, fires that start are likely to spread rapidly,” Oswant said.
SDG&E officials say they have activated their Emergency Operations Center to monitor weather conditions and started pre-patrols of their equipment in high-fire-threat districts. The utility on Tuesday began notifying customers who are at risk of having their power turned off, contacting them via phone, text messages and emails.
Those contacted should be prepared to be without power through Saturday, SDG&E said. A list of areas at risk of PSPS can be accessed at sdge.com/ready.
The utility’s service territory encompasses San Diego County and a portion of southern Orange County.
Over the years, the customers most affected by de-energized lines tend to live in the backcountry of San Diego County. Some complain the shutoffs are a burden because a number of rural residents rely on electricity to pump well water for their horses and other animals to drink.
Customers dependent on electrically-powered medical devices are also concerned when their neighborhoods lose power.
SDG&E says it uses PSPS as a last resort to reduce the risk of wildfire when weather conditions are dangerous and tries to make the shutoffs as strategic as possible.
Back in the fall of 2007, downed power lines in high winds ignited the devastating Witch, Guejito and Rice wildfires that killed 10 people and destroyed more than 1,700 homes.
Since then, SDG&E has spent more than $3 billion in ratepayer funds on a variety of wildfire safety measures, including establishing a a network of more than 220 weather stations that provide grid operators real-time weather data to help them determine when and whether to de-energize power lines.
“We’re really going to wait for those critical fire weather conditions to materialize before we implement Public Safety Power Shutoff,” said Brian D’Agostino, SDG&E’s Director of Fire Science and Climate Adaptation. “We’re going to have our team of meteorologists working around the clock for the duration of this event, monitoring weather data on our weather network.”
SDG&E has had zero Public Safety Power Shutoffs so far this year. In 2020, the utility implemented five.
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SDG&E warns that it may shut off power to some areas on Thanksgiving and Friday - The San Diego Union-Tribune
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