Christmas by candlelight?

Public Safety Power Shut-offs projected to last into Friday

Ahandful of power outages reported in the Canyon Country area Wednesday morning are expected to last until Christmas morning, according to officials at Southern California Edison.

The first outage was reported by residents near Whites Canyon Road and Soledad Canyon Road shortly before 10:30 a.m.

By 10:45 a.m, the outage map for SoCal Edison showed that at least five outages were occurring in the Canyon Country area.

Wednesday afternoon, officials at Southern California Edison said that PSPS would be affecting various parts of Canyon Country through Christmas Day. Officials had not given an official number for those that will be without power in the Canyon Country area, but said throughout L.A. County there were approximately 9,316 customers affected.

A call regarding

possible electrical wires being knocked down was reported to the Los Angeles County Fire Department at 11:10 a.m. on the 19500 block of Steinway Street.

The call for the Steinway Street incident, according to Marvin Lim, a spokesman for the Fire Department, concerned a tree in a backyard hitting wires after it had fallen onto them due to wind. No fire was

reported in the area and at 11:18 a.m. the Fire Department closed the incident, likely handing it off to SoCal Edison officials, Lim added.

At 11:43 a.m, witnesses on the scene reported that SoCal Edison workers were directing traffic at Whites Canyon and Soledad due to the signal being out at the intersection. High winds were blowing street signs, and traffic was backing up for those trying to drive down the busiest street in Canyon Country.

SoCal Edison said Tuesday that outages might occur during Public Power Safety Shutoffs in the Canyon Country area for Wednesday and Thursday, but those shut-offs were since extended to Friday.

They accredited these possible shut-offs to turbulent, potentially fire-causing weather in the area. The National Weather Service has placed the northeast part of the Santa Clarita Valley under both a wind advisory and red flag warning until noon on Christmas Eve.

Dan Watson/ The Signal (Above) Traffic snarls on Soledad Canyon and Camp Plenty roads due to the traffic lights being out on Soledad and Whites canyon roads in Canyon Country on Wednesday. (Left) A Southern California Edison worker holds traffic as a crew works to repair the traffic lights. (Below) As winds blew in gusts of up to 35 mph, prompting public safety power shut-offs in the SCV, a woman tries to replace her wind-tattered car cover on Steinway Street in Canyon Country.

Dan Watson/ The Signal (Left) A Steinway Street resident rights his trash can after high winds knocked it over in Canyon Country on Wednesday. (Above) High winds blow a street sign ahead of the traffic lights being returned to service Wednesday at Soledad and Whites canyon roads.