Calabasas residents voice frustrations over safety concerns caused by SoCal Edison power shutoffs
Calabasas and Malibu residents gathered Wednesday night to voice their frustrations over repeated public safety power shutoffs ordered by SoCal Edison.
Public safety power shutoffs, or PSPS, are often implemented when parts of Southern California face elevated fire risk, and while residents say they understand, they still need more reliable service, especially during emergencies.
For three days earlier in October, as powerful Santa Ana winds fueled the Bryson Fire in Malibu, SCE customers in both communities were literally and figuratively left in the dark.
"No service whatsoever," said Jamie Camp, a Calabasas resident. "Cell phone, phone, internet. Everything."
SCE deactivated power to the area to reduce the risk of electrical equipment sparking a fire. Residents say the PSPS not only cut them off from internet and phone service, including the ability to call 911, but also from receiving emergency notifications if they needed to evacuate.
They say that the problem is that it also happens over and over throughout the year.
"Once upon a time, the threshold was 40 mile an hour gusts for the power shutoff, then it became 30, then it became 20," said one man, while speaking at Wednesday night's Calabasas City Council meeting.
Council member Alice Weintraub is mobilizing locals to voice their frustrations so city leaders can push power companies to find alternative ways to provide service during wind and fire concerns, such as neighborhood generators to bridge safety and service.
"We can't live in a place where the power goes off every time it's windy," Weintraub said.
A SoCal Edison spokesperson shared a statement regarding the power shutoffs with CBS LA upon request.
"We know these outages have been frustrating and inconvenient. Safety must come first, and we continue to invest heavily in resiliency measures to reduce the risk of wildfires, including work in Calabasas to install covered conductor and place powerlines underground," the statement said. "We continue to partner with the communities we serve to improve emergency preparedness."
