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4 | October 18, 2018 | Malibu surfside news news<br />

malibusurfsidenews.com<br />

Power shutoff protocol puts public at odds with SCE<br />

Southern California<br />

Edison details<br />

plan at community<br />

meeting<br />

Michele Willer-Allred<br />

Freelance Reporter<br />

burglary<br />

From Page 3<br />

Tensions ran high Oct. 9<br />

at an informational meeting<br />

hosted by Southern California<br />

Edison.<br />

The meeting, held at King<br />

Gillette Ranch in Calabasas,<br />

was held to discuss SCE’s<br />

plan to shut off power in<br />

high fire risk areas such<br />

as Malibu during extreme<br />

weather conditions.<br />

The meeting turned into<br />

a heated exchange when<br />

residents from Malibu and<br />

surrounding communities<br />

accused the utility company<br />

of choosing profits over<br />

people’s lives.<br />

SCE officials began the<br />

meeting with a presentation<br />

on the Public Safety Power<br />

Shutoff Plan, which they<br />

called a “rare practice of last<br />

resort” during extreme fire<br />

conditions.<br />

SCE officials said the<br />

PSPS plan isn’t intended<br />

to blackout the entire city<br />

of Malibu, and that only a<br />

couple of circuits may experience<br />

an outage during<br />

a threat. Advanced weather<br />

monitor systems have been<br />

installed to watch conditions,<br />

workers would patrol<br />

the Malibu area to ensure<br />

conditions are right, and input<br />

would be received from<br />

fire authorities and emergency<br />

management personnel<br />

before power is cut off. At<br />

least 48 hours’ notice would<br />

be given to the community<br />

before a power shutoff.<br />

SCE has identified that 33<br />

percent of its service territory<br />

falls within high-fire risk<br />

areas, including the entire<br />

city of Malibu.<br />

SCE officials said that in<br />

that territory, they estimate<br />

they would use the PSPS<br />

plan four times per year.<br />

They said 48 red flag days<br />

were recorded in 2018 in the<br />

service area, and the PSPS<br />

plan was not used once.<br />

They said the plan also is<br />

needed during the completion<br />

of other mitigation<br />

measures, such as system<br />

hardening and vegetation<br />

management.<br />

“This is not something we<br />

take lightly,” said Cameron<br />

McPherson, SCE’s senior<br />

project manager of grid resiliency<br />

and public safety.<br />

“Edison takes pride with the<br />

keeping the lights on.”<br />

When SCE officials proceeded<br />

with the presentation<br />

and started answering<br />

questions they thought the<br />

community had, the audience<br />

grew increasingly<br />

frustrated, yelling that SCE<br />

is ignoring residents’ concerns,<br />

and “sidestepping”<br />

the important issues pertaining<br />

to the plan.<br />

“No we’re not,” the officials<br />

responded, leading to<br />

jeers by the audience.<br />

At that point, Malibu<br />

Mayor Pro Tem Jefferson<br />

Wagner stepped on stage and<br />

but McDonnell would not<br />

say what was in the bags,<br />

saying it was “too early.”<br />

McDonnell also said<br />

there was nothing to indicate<br />

that Rauda had any accomplices.<br />

All of the burglary incidents<br />

reportedly took place<br />

between 2 and 5 a.m. and<br />

involved the theft of food.<br />

The most recent burglary<br />

occurred at 3 a.m. Oct. 9<br />

asked the audience to remain<br />

calm, while also acting as an<br />

intermediary between the<br />

audience and SCE officials.<br />

The officials then agreed<br />

to answer questions posed<br />

by some audience members,<br />

who also took the opportunity<br />

to make statements on<br />

how they felt about the plan.<br />

“I wonder why Edison is<br />

so committed to technology<br />

from the 1800s?” asked<br />

Scott Dittrich, a Malibu resident,<br />

who also questioned<br />

why Edison wouldn’t consider<br />

the more progressive<br />

route of undergrounding<br />

power lines.<br />

Beth Lucas, a Malibu<br />

resident and vice president<br />

of Lower Las Flores Mesa<br />

Property Owners Association,<br />

said her neighborhood<br />

was devastated by fires in<br />

the past.<br />

Lucas said it was dangerous<br />

and legally negligent for<br />

Edison to intentionally put<br />

communities and emergency<br />

personnel at risk if power<br />

is cut off and a fire breaks<br />

out, with no means of communication<br />

except through<br />

cellphones that may or may<br />

not still be working.<br />

She said that Edison<br />

should solidify and make<br />

their infrastructure fire and<br />

wind safe, install fireproof<br />

poles, and also invest in undergrounding<br />

wires.<br />

Diane Forte, government<br />

relations manager for SCE,<br />

said to underground wires<br />

for the entire Malibu region<br />

would be expensive, costing<br />

almost $600 million, and<br />

at the Agoura-Calabasas<br />

Community Center.<br />

An additional four allegedly<br />

related incidents took<br />

place in 2018, one occurred<br />

in 2017 and two took place<br />

in October 2016, according<br />

to police. All of the incidents<br />

were in unincorporated<br />

areas of Malibu and<br />

Calabasas.<br />

Malibu/Lost Hills Capt.<br />

Josh Thai also spoke at<br />

the press conference, saying<br />

police will continue to<br />

be proactive and patrol the<br />

some terrain situations in<br />

the area also would make it<br />

difficult to implement.<br />

She said SCE’s plan to<br />

install covered conductors,<br />

which are less likely to start<br />

a fire if a branch falls into a<br />

wire, are more cost-effective<br />

and easier to implement.<br />

“What is Edison worried<br />

about? The cost or people’s<br />

lives?” asked Mike Morell,<br />

a Malibu resident. “If it is<br />

cost, why not underground<br />

the most vulnerable lines?<br />

We will help pay for that.”<br />

Linda Hill, a Topanga<br />

resident, said if electricity<br />

is cut, everyone will be on<br />

their cellphones when an<br />

emergency happens, making<br />

the networks overloaded<br />

and unavailable.<br />

McPherson said that SCE<br />

continues to work with telecommunications<br />

companies<br />

on backup service plans and<br />

advanced coordination.<br />

Holly Kessler, who lives<br />

along the Highway 101 corridor,<br />

said she was “dumbfounded”<br />

that SCE would<br />

proceed with this plan in a<br />

mountainous area with canyons<br />

and few exits.<br />

Kessler questioned why<br />

they couldn’t just exempt<br />

the area, with SCE officials<br />

shaking their head no.<br />

Another Topanga resident<br />

questioned who would manage<br />

intermediaries in the<br />

event of an emergency, and<br />

if the area would be “left in<br />

the Wild West” to fend for<br />

themselves. SCE officials<br />

and a California Public Utilities<br />

Commission representative<br />

didn’t have an answer<br />

to that question.<br />

“I think you should all<br />

shut up,” another resident<br />

said to the audience, adding<br />

that he would welcome SCE<br />

turning off the power whenever<br />

it wanted.<br />

Wagner said he would<br />

like Malibu and surrounding<br />

City governmental agencies<br />

to work on a joint statement<br />

to SCE regarding their concerns,<br />

and to meet with SCE<br />

to have their questions answered.<br />

Bill Chiu, director of engineering<br />

at SCE, said he<br />

also would like to set emotions<br />

aside and form productive<br />

solutions.<br />

“We’re very sincere on<br />

constructing a safe plan for<br />

the community,” Chiu said.<br />

McPherson said if there<br />

was one thing to take away<br />

from the meeting it is that<br />

residents should update<br />

their contact information<br />

with SCE, as well as have<br />

a plan and be prepared. He<br />

said more power outage preparedness<br />

tips are available<br />

at www.ready.gov.<br />

Discussion of the PSPS<br />

plan comes on the heels of<br />

state investigators finding<br />

that strong winds caused<br />

PG&E power lines to touch,<br />

which sparked the deadly<br />

Cascade Fire in Yuba County<br />

last October.<br />

Edison also is dealing<br />

with multiple lawsuits<br />

claiming that their equipment<br />

triggered the Thomas<br />

Fire on a hot and dry day<br />

last December in Ventura<br />

and Santa Barbara counties.<br />

Malibu Canyon area.<br />

“We’re going to continue<br />

our efforts to make sure the<br />

public is safe,” Thai said.<br />

For more on this and other<br />

Breaking News, visit Malibu<br />

SurfsideNews.com.<br />

From friday, oct. 12<br />

Venice man<br />

who struck,<br />

killed Malibu<br />

landscaper<br />

sentenced<br />

Lauren Coughlin, Editor<br />

Kevin James Hicks was<br />

sentenced Thursday, Oct.<br />

11, to 14 years and four<br />

months in state prison for<br />

his role in the November<br />

2017 death of Malibu landscaper<br />

Juan Castillo.<br />

The 23-year-old Venice<br />

resident entered his plea to<br />

“one felony count each of<br />

fleeing a pursuing peace officer’s<br />

motor vehicle causing<br />

death, driving or taking<br />

a vehicle without consent<br />

with a prior, assault with<br />

a deadly weapon and DUI<br />

causing injury,” states the<br />

Los Angeles County District<br />

Attorney’s Office in<br />

a Friday, Oct. 12 press release.<br />

The incident occurred<br />

Nov. 29, 2017, when<br />

Hicks stole a car and<br />

drove it along Pacific<br />

Coast Highway in Malibu,<br />

leading police on a chase.<br />

After attempting a stop<br />

at Ramirez Mesa Drive,<br />

police reportedly ceased<br />

their chase.<br />

Castillo, 28, of Inglewood,<br />

who was walking<br />

on the right shoulder in<br />

the 27600 block of Pacific<br />

Coast Highway was struck<br />

a short time later.<br />

For more on this and other<br />

Breaking News, visit Malibu<br />

SurfsideNews.com.

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