Pier Fire: Crews work to restore power
Temporary generators in place for homes
The Pier Fire has not only damaged thousands of acres in the Tule River Canyon, but has also severely damaged a nearby distribution line, which has caused over 1,000 residences in the area to lose power.
As of Friday, workers with Southern California Edison (SCE) have restored power to all but eight residences with three, 1.5 megawatt temporary diesel generators, said Troy Whitman SCE’S fire management officer.
“We worked last week to get those installed, tested and put in service,” Whitman said.
Because there is active fire in the area of the eight homes without power, Whitman said SCE workers will have to wait until it is safe to go in to
replace power poles.
He said, however, that he plans to have the remaining eight homes “picked up and back in service by about the 25th of September.”
Whitman said there is one, 12,000 volt distribution line that runs up the Tule River Canyon. He said about three miles worth of structures and wire were lost due to the Pier Fire.
“Our hats are off to the firefighters and first responders for limiting the damage to just that 3-mile stretch and really doing a great job to save all those homes in all of those communities,” Whitman said.
Whitman said crews with SCE are in the process of digging holes to set up new power poles, most of which he said will need to be set by helicopter from the air.
He said there are currently around 40 to 60 workers, but plans to have plenty more in the coming weeks.
“I know that we are trying to ramp up crew numbers now, supplemented by contract forces to expedite the restoration to get the temporary generation situation resolved and put the customers back on permanent power,” Whitman said.
As far as when residents can expect to be back on permanent power, Whitman said it is all dependent on the fire activity, but noted that he is aiming for the first week in October. Whitman noted that the 1,084 customers in the area that were initially all without a source of power could experience short outages while they are being switched over to permanent power.
In addition to damaged power lines, Whitman said the Pier Fire also damaged a wood flume structure that runs along the Tule River Canyon that feeds water into the Tule Powerhouse — a hydro-generating facility at the bottom of the Tule River Canyon.
“So far we have identified right around 3,700 feet of damaged flume that will need to be repaired and that will take some time,” Whitman said, adding that it is still not safe to get into some of those areas. “We will be working closely with the Forest Service and the Sequoia National Forest District rangers to plan that damage repair work.”