Caltrans is alerting the traveling public that Southern California Edison has announced possible power outages for Public Safety Power Shutoff due to dry, hot and windy weather conditions and the potential for an elevated fire weather threat across the high desert region.
The PSPS begins Thursday afternoon, June 20, and continues through Saturday, June 22. The PSPS watch list, or areas affected, are Apple Valley, Victorville, Hesperia, Lucerne Valley, and unincorporated San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties. Other desert regions in Riverside County may also be affected.
Caltrans is advising motorists that signalization on state routes throughout these areas will be affected during the power outages along Interstate 15 and on highways 138, 18, 58, 395 and 247. The signals will continue to cycle regularly for about three hours after the outage and will then cycle to “red-flash” for another three to four hours. If the outage remains in place for more than six hours the signals will then go to “blackout” mode.
Motorists are advised that if a traffic signal is not working and no lights are showing on the signal (blackout mode), you must treat it as a four-way stop --- stop until it is safe to proceed.
The California Penal Code (PC 21800) (d) (1) states “The driver of any vehicle approaching an intersection which has official traffic control signals that are inoperative shall stop at the intersection, and may proceed with caution when it is safe to do so.” https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=21800&lawCode=VEH.
Have they started cleaning brush from powerline routes? Shutting off power only removes ignition and doesn’t remove fuel. And cutback trees along evac routes. Going cheap and not doing wildfire mitigation brush clearing helped get SCE into it’s current mess. Will they still fail to do basic maintenance?