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MALIBU SURFSIDE NEWS | November 11, 2020 | 13
SCE issues apology over windstorm outages
MICHELE WILLER-ALLRED
Staff Reporter
A Southern California Edison
official says the utility was
not prepared for the damaging
winds that hit Malibu on Oct.
26, causing widespread power
outages that also left traffic signals
at several intersections on
Pacific Coast Highway dark.
During the Nov. 5 City Council
meeting, Rudy Gonzales,
government relations manager
for SCE, also apologized for the
confusion during the event.
At around 9:30 a.m. the day
in question, City Manager Reva
Feldman requested Los Angeles
County Sheriff’s Department assistance
at several intersections
where the traffic lights had gone
out, including PCH and Corral
Canyon Road.
Speaking to the council, Gonzales
said it was a high wind day.
“However, we did not anticipate
that the winds would reach
a level to implement our Public
Safety Power Shutoff plan for
any circuits in the city of Malibu,”
he said.
Power Safety Power Shutoffs
are planned outages SCE and
other power companies use to
prevent their equipment from
malfunctioning during, say, a
windstorm, and causing a fire.
Gonzales said that those plans
changed that morning because
of two out-of-service circuits
originating at the Latigo Substation
off of Hillview Drive west
of Latigo Canyon. Those circuits
make their way down to the
southern and western part of the
community.
Gonzales said SCE was not
POSTED TO malibusurfsidenews.com
3
DAYS AGO
The Los Angeles County
Sheriff’s Department sent
personnel to do traffic control
on Pacific Coast Highway Oct.
26 after a Southern California
Edison power outage plunged a
wide part of Malibu and several
traffic signals in the dark. SCOTT
STEEPLETON/SURFSIDE NEWS
able to conduct any automated
switching at that time, so those
circuits remained out of service
until the lines were repaired.
Gonzales added that while it
did take a fair amount of time to
complete the repairs, SCE officials
did notify the city that one
of those circuits was also being
added to the watchlist for PSPS
shutoff.
He also said that at the same
time, an electrical wire did come
down on Malibu Road, but that
circuit was one of those already
de-energized.
“So, there was some confusion
about the notifications that
went out to the community and
to the city, and I’m just here to
commit to you that we will do
a better job of communicating
both emergency outages and
outages related to PSPS,” Gonzales
said. “These are still fairly
new processes that are in place
and we’re committed to making
improvements and we will learn
from this Oct. 26th experience
that we had.”
Commemoration
of Woolsey Fire
anniversary
MICHELE WILLER-ALLRED
Staff Reporter
The second anniversary of the
Woolsey Fire was commemorated
during a special Malibu City Council
meeting Nov. 9 via Zoom.
A video made by city staff and
commemorating the anniversary was
shown during the meeting.
The fire ignited in Ventura County
on the afternoon of Nov. 8, 2018, and
reached Malibu early the next day.
The fire burned 96,949 acres, destroyed
1,643 structures and killed
three people. Malibu lost more than
480 homes in the fire.
“I know it will be a tough day for
all of us,” City Manager Reva Feldman
said about the anniversary.
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