Breanna Reeves
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Southern California residents are once again facing a series of unprecedented fires with the Palisades and Eaton fires rapidly spreading across Los Angeles County.
The fires erupted following strong gusts of Santa Ana winds that stoked the fires, with other smaller fires breaking out across the Hollywood Hills and Sylmar.
While these fires are occurring more than 60 miles west of the Inland Empire, thousands of residents in the inland region have been without power as a result of Southern California Edison’s (SCE) Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) procedure. PSPS is the process of temporarily shutting off power to a neighborhood during severe and dangerous weather conditions to “prevent the electric system from becoming a source of ignition.”
According to an update from SCE on Jan. 8, “Given the unsafe conditions for electric power restorations, customers may experience several days of outages. SCE will restore service as soon as it is safe to do so.”
Currently, 36,368 SCE customers in Los Angeles County, 47,288 customers in Riverside County and 31,238 customers in San Bernardino County are experiencing power shutoffs. As the fires continue to rage, SCE is considering power safety shutoffs to an additional 449,521 customers across seven Southern California counties.
The Palisades Fire, which began on Jan. 7, has burned more than 17,000 acres and is zero percent contained, according to live updates from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire). The Eaton Fire, which broke out on Jan. 7, in the neighboring cities of Altadena and Pasadena, has spread to 10,600 acres and is zero percent contained.
Although the Santa Ana winds have started to slow, a Red Flag Warning across Riverside and San Bernardino Counties remains in effect until Jan. 10. The National Weather Service issues Red Flag Warnings to alert fire departments of critical weather conditions. Under the warning, communities are advised to take extreme caution, as simple sparks can lead to a fire, such as from a cigarette butt being thrown onto the ground.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District has three air quality advisories in effect. A smoke advisory has also been issued for the Palisades, Eaton, and Hurst Fires. Additionally, South Coast AQMD extended a Windblown Dust Advisory until Jan. 9 due to high winds in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, which includes the South Coast Air Basin and the Coachella Valley.
NWS issued an air quality alert for harmful particle pollution levels resulting from windblown dust and wildfire smoke in Coachella Valley, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, and wildfire smoke in western San Bernardino County.