Los Angeles is planning widespread power outages ahead of dangerous Santa Ana winds expected to pick up over the weekend, fire officials warned.
“The unavoidable public safety power outages implemented before this life-threatening Santa Ana wind disaster are critical to preventing new fires and will save lives,” Fire Chief Anthony Malone said Saturday. Please understand that this will help.''
“Certainly they are difficult challenges to deal with, but it's certainly better than having another fire.”
Santa Ana's strong, dry winds are expected to pick up Saturday evening after briefly easing earlier in the day.
Dangerous winds in Santa Anta dropped to 15 mph during the day, but are expected to gust up to 50 mph in the evening, reaching 110 mph in San Gabriel, Santa Susana and the West. There are some things. santa monica mountains, According to FOX Prediction Center.
The strong winds, combined with low humidity, will increase the fire danger across Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
The worst winds are expected to hit Southern California Monday night into Tuesday and continue into Wednesday.
Steve Powell, president and CEO of Southern California Edison, said the planned power outages would be unrelated to the outages already plaguing Los Angeles. As of Saturday evening, about 50,000 residents were without power.
This figure is down from the staggering figure of more than 500,000 people left in the dark earlier this week.
As of Saturday, wildfires in Southern California had claimed at least 13 lives.
At least 153,000 Southern California residents have been forced to evacuate their homes as wildfires continue to rage in the Pacific Palisades and surrounding areas.
