Los Angeles Fire Forces Thousands to Evacuate as Power Returns for Some in Northern California
11 Oktober 2019 - 4:54PM
Dow Jones News
By Jennifer Calfas and Alejandro Lazo
The effects of wildfires played havoc across California Friday,
as power was restored for some customers in the north and thousands
of residents in the south were forced to evacuate their homes as
fires fueled by dry, powerful winds spread quickly.
Southern California Edison shut off power to more than 21,000
customers Friday and warned more blackouts may come amid dangerous
conditions ripe with heavy winds fanning wildfires.
In the north, PG&E Corp. restored power for about half of
the more than 738,000 customers affected by power shut-offs this
week, as weather conditions there grew less severe. About 312,000
were without power Friday morning.
The intentional shut-offs in Southern California came as a
powerful fire grew overnight near the Sylmar neighborhood of Los
Angeles, forcing evacuations for 12,700 homes and burning more than
4,000 acres by the early morning. The fast-moving inferno destroyed
a number of homes in the San Fernando Valley and one commercial
building, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Another wildfire scorched 500 acres off a Riverside County
highway late Thursday, spreading through a mobile home park near
the I-10 freeway and destroying 74 structures by the evening.
Millions of California residents and business owners this week
grappled with mass blackouts as PG&E attempted to thwart the
possibility of dangerous conditions fueling deadly fires that
officials have characterized as the new normal. California's
biggest utility company, PG&E filed for bankruptcy protection
earlier this year as the company faced liabilities for sparking a
number of the state's disastrous wildfires.
A recent Wall Street Journal investigation found PG&E was
aware of weaknesses in its power lines that could spark fires but
failed to make necessary upgrades.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday blamed the blackouts in
Northern and Central California on "greed and mismanagement" by
PG&E.
"We are seeing the scale and scope of something that no state in
the 21st century should experience; what's happened is
unacceptable, and it has happened because of neglect," Mr. Newsom
said at an operations center for the Governor's Office of Emergency
Services in Mather, Calif.
The Democrat added that California is helping the company
inspect thousands of miles of equipment and assisted it to relaunch
a website that failed earlier this week, frustrating many residents
seeking information about the blackouts.
Mr. Newsom challenged the notion that Californians should accept
the massive threat of wildfire or power outages as a new
normal.
"This is not from my perspective a climate change story as much
as a story about greed and mismanagement over the course of
decades," Mr. Newsom said. "They chose not to modernize their grid
over the course of many, many years, it led to their own demise, it
led to bankruptcy."
In a statement Friday morning, PG&E said shutting off power
for safety is part of the company's wildfire safety program, which
includes performing enhanced inspections of equipment in fire-prone
areas, among other measures. The company has said it already has
repaired or made spot fixes to the most severe problems it
uncovered throughout its system, and it is working to prioritize
and address remaining risks.
"We absolutely share the state's focus on reducing the threat of
catastrophic wildfires in California and that's why we took this
action, " the company said.
"We have learned valuable lessons that will help shape how we
conduct future events, both in our operations and our
communications," it said.
Write to Jennifer Calfas at Jennifer.Calfas@wsj.com and
Alejandro Lazo at alejandro.lazo@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 11, 2019 10:39 ET (14:39 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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