Utility re-energized power line before fire
LOS ANGELES >> Southern California Edison said Friday that it re-energized a 16,000-volt power line minutes before a nearby hilltop exploded into a blaze that is threatening thousands of homes.
SCE and other utilities cut off power this week to hundreds of thousands of Californians to prevent windstorms from knocking down or fouling lines and sparking devastating fires.
As the winds eased in most locations, SCE began restoring power. It was re-energizing a circuit 13 minutes before a fire erupted nearby on a hilltop northeast of Los Angeles, the utility told state regulators.
Erratic winds continued to bedevil firefighting efforts Friday at the Maria Fire, which has burned some 13 ½ square miles, threatens about 1,800 homes and other buildings, and prompted evacuation orders for nearly 11,000 people.
Eastern Ventura, Camarillo, Somis and Santa Paula were at risk, Ventura County fire officials said.
SCE said it had no information about the actual cause of the fire. The fire began during what had been expected to be the tail end of a siege of Santa Ana winds that fanned destructively across the region, but a tugof-war developed between those offshore gusts and the return of some onshore flow from the ocean.
“It has been an uphill battle ever since,” Ventura County Fire Chief Mark Lorenzen told a midday news conference. “We are finding that the winds are starting to change and that presents its own challenges all by itself.”
In Los Angeles, the last remaining evacuations were lifted in Brentwood, where a fire that erupted near The Getty Center arts complex roared into neighborhoods and destroyed eight expensive homes.
In eastern Ventura County, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library reopened to the public after being forced to shut down Wednesday as a wind-driven wildfire swirled around the hilltop facility.