Photo by Annamarie Padula
By Nancy Borchers
Contributed
Pine Cove Property Owners Association hosted Jeremy Goldman of Southern California Edison to speak at its Feb. 1 meeting. Goldman addressed Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS), Automatic Shutoff in dangerous circumstances, Systems Hardening and Vegetation Management.
Goldman was also very informative about the monitoring of wind and weather dangers through weather stations and cameras. These cameras can be accessed by the public at mesowest.utah.edu and www.alertwildfire.org
Edison is using the “surgical” approach to PSPS as opposed to the blanket, whole area shutoff. Temperature, humidity and wind velocity are all factors to addressing PSPS.
Advanced notification for those critical care customers with special electricity needs will be sent for those who register for notifications. Oxygen and CPAP machines are only two of the items mentioned. Registration and information is available at sce.com/PSPS. There may be rebates for critical care customers. The impacted general public will be notified approximately two days before a proposed PSPS via email, text or phone call.
During the meeting, Goldman was asked about underground wiring. He replied that it costs about 10 to 15 times more than above ground installations. In new developments, the cost is absorbed by the developer and the buyers. He noted that new developments are happening every day and hoped that the costs would go down in the future.
Construction and hardening of the power source from Hemet is planned with fire-resistant poles and crossarms, covered conductors and fast-acting fuses and advanced surge and lightning arresters.
Goldman deplored the lack of communication concerning Edison’s inspection of the infrastructure in the mountain communities as Edison received many calls concerning the helicopter flights. The inspections were very successful in locating weak areas that needed attention and Goldman told the audience that a few more flights may be necessary.
Goldman also conferred with Captain Mark Spehar of Cal Fire Station 23 about further cooperation and coordination.
