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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.