SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA – Hundreds of thousands of homes had their power shut off on Thanksgiving Day, reportedly due to increased risks of wildfires in the area.
Southern California homes faces power outages during the Thanksgiving holiday as strong winds raise the risk of wildfires https://t.co/4H15rwplMW
— Bloomberg Energy (@BloombergNRG) November 26, 2020
Several cities and counties in southern California had their power shut off on the holiday reportedly due to high winds in the area that might cause wildfires in an area that has already seen several devastating fires. Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, and Kern Counties were among those that had their residents power affected.
According to the LA Times, Southern California Edison had over 8,000 customers who had their power shut off. Over 100,000 more customers faced risk of having their power cut off reportedly due to high winds that increased the risk for additional wildfires.
3,015 residences had their power shut off in Ventura County before 10pm and almost 3,000 more in Orange County had their power service disrupted. Officials reported that over 1,000 residences in Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties had also seen their power shut off according to Southern California Edison.
Southern California Edison says they are exploring potential Public Safety Power Shutoffs for the Stallion Springs, Cummings Valley and Bear Valley Springs communities this Thanksgiving.https://t.co/92q8ZzQ5D8
— BakersfieldNow (@bakersfieldnow) November 26, 2020
They also reported an additional 102,440 residential customers were slated to have their power shut off in Los Angeles, Ventura, Riverside, Orange, and San Bernardino counties. Southern California Edison could not give a timeframe on when they would do so or how long the power outage would last.
The reason why they claim the power disruptions were necessary were due to weather warnings of Santa Ana winds that are believed to reach up to 65mph through the San Fernando Valley and the Santa Monica Mountains.
These high winds could cause fires in the area as Ventura and Los Angeles are under red flags warning meaning that conditions in the area are ripe for fires.
Jeff Monford, a senior advisor with Edison International, said:
“We are really sympathetic about this happening, number one, during the pandemic when people are at home, and two, during the holiday.”
Monford claims that customers who may have been affected during the power outages were notified on November 24th.
Monford also stated that the power company had sent out trucks in some of the neighborhoods to provide water, snacks, and power charging stations for those affected. Monford did not state what neighborhoods those resources were dispatched in.
Power outages planned on Thanksgiving? Seriously? Right when people will start cooking the Turkey. #California is becoming unlivable. https://t.co/g7GyX0zhTk
— Wendy Marie (@GlassHouses73) November 25, 2020
The power company is allegedly concerned with the high winds causing power lines to strike objects that could cause a fire. For example, high winds causing a live powerline to strike a tree could be enough to spark a fire, which, with high winds, could easily get out of control.
They be more concerned after this year’s rounds of wildfires that devastated the area, leaving 31 people dead and over 10,000 structures destroyed or damaged by raging fires. Some blame the power lines and high winds for causing some of the wildfires earlier in the year.
Despite the power company being cautious, residents in the area must feel like they are living in a third world country with the amount of times that their power is shut off. They are also fed up with not only the frequency with which it happens, but not being given a clear timeline on when the company will restore power to the area also must frustrate them.
Edison May Cut Off Power to Southern California Homes on Thanksgiving to Prevent Fires
Socialist utopia of California With deliberate power outages resembling current day Venezuela
Fear not…Newsom just signed a law banning tiny plastic shampoo bottles
https://t.co/k3PjoERXyi— HaveWeAllGoneMad (@HaveWeAllGoneM1) November 25, 2020
The power company said that they cannot give good timelines on when they can restore power once they have shut it off due to the high winds.
This is because restoring power is dependent on weather conditions allowing live power lines in the area, not to mention all of the power lines must be inspected for damage prior to restoring the power.
What’s the Democrat’s excuse for power outages in California? This is a one-party rule state. Democrats have total control, they can’t even keep the lights on.
— Cerno (@Cernovich) September 7, 2020
Residents in San Bernardino County are fed up with the power company and have voiced their displeasure to the mayor of Fontana, Acquanette Warren. Warren said:
“I talked to a lot of residents today and they are fed up. It has been very frustrating…I get what the residents are feeling. I’m feeling it. We really need to come up with a better method.”California is now reportedly using firefighters to enforce pandemic restrictions for businesses
But it gets even worse.
According to officials, firefighters within the Silicon Valley area are going to be tasked with helping enforce business-related mandates for the next few days with regard to a surge in COVID-19 cases in California.
Firefighters in Silicon Valley were sent out to enforce statewide business restrictions as the state faced a Thanksgiving shadowed by an out-of-control coronavirus surgehttps://t.co/O7UNADSazN
— KTLA (@KTLA) November 26, 2020
While typically firefighters gravitate more towards code enforcements pertaining to capacity measures for businesses, they’ll also be aiding general enforcement relating to mandates such as no indoor dining and the ilk.
Michael Balliet, director of Community and Business Engagement for the County of Santa Clara, stated that business owners have a “moral” obligation to comply with mandates – as well as a “legal” one:
“Businesses have a legal, ethical, and moral obligation to protect their employees and the public.”
Firefighters will be afforded the discretion to contact local enforcement officials when spotting violations, which will result in immediate fines ranging from $250 to thousands of dollars.
Balliet stated that with the pandemic levels rising within California, that the era of grace periods are over:
“We’re now at a point where it is vital that we ensure accountability at every level.”
Meanwhile in L.A. County, therein lies the possibility of stay-at-home orders making a return – albeit, not to the extent they were enforced back in March reportedly.
Dr. Christina Ghaly, health services director in Los Angeles County noted that 1 out of every 145 people within L.A. is potentially infectious to others – and discouraged Thanksgiving gatherings this year:
“You have a 15-person gathering at a dinner table, then 1 in 10 of those tables could have … a person that is unknowingly infecting others.”
On November 24th, the state of California collectively saw over 18,000 new cases of COVID-19, which creates concerns that with this uptick, the healthcare system within the state could eventually become overwhelmed.
Health officials from the state say that an estimated 12% of all positive cases of COVID could find themselves requiring hospital treatment at some point.
Following the November 24th spike in cases, the state of California enacted an evening curfew the forbids non-essential work and many forms of gatherings throughout most of the state.
Restaurants have also been barred from any form of indoor/in-person dining in L.A. County for a three-week period.
While these eateries can still provide delivery, takeout and curbside pick-up, the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce said these restrictions will still affect roughly 700,000 restaurant employees:
“These measures will be devastating to families as well as businesses so close to the holidays, and without relief in sight.”
Seeing that indoor dining has been kiboshed for three-weeks, employees who function as servers have been left out to dry, proverbially.
Jaime Taylor, a server at Spago in West Hollywood, is among those concerned about how to earn a living in the meantime:
“I’m definitely scared…I’m by myself. I live alone. Spago was my main bread and butter. … It means a lot of uncertainty, a lot of questioning, trying to decide what you are going to spend your money on.”
The next few weeks are usually the most profitable of the year for restaurants. This year, that won’t be the case for those in LA County as they are forced to close for at least three weeks starting tonight. https://t.co/zAfmtwHEGR
— CBS Los Angeles (@CBSLA) November 26, 2020
Alexandra Kazarian is among the local attorneys who plan to fight the restrictions on businesses, remarking on plans to bring a legal battle against L.A. County and the Department of Public Health:
“We are here to take this fight the courts to tell judges: if you are going to enforce arbitrary rules, you need to enforce them to the government before you enforce them on people that are actually trying to comply.”
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