Looming wildfire season demands SCE insulate power lines, even during pandemic

As California prepares for wildfire season, Southern California Edison (SCE) is continuing its critical workload tending to service area power lines during the coronavirus outbreak.

With the COVID-19 pandemic in full swing, SCE crews are still maintaining their service area, installing insulated power lines to replace six spans of bare wire near the I-5 Freeway. This, SCE says, will help prevent power lines from arcing or sparking if extreme weather conditions — like a wildfire — slams them with tree branches or other objects.

“It’s really important that we maintain the grid right now because first responders, hospitals, and supermarkets are relying on electricity,” Willie Rios, an SCE foreman, said. “Our crews understand the importance of making sure the system is fully operational. They’re also away from their families and understand the importance of physical distancing to keep their own families healthy and safe.”

As Rios implied, safety and health guidelines are still in effect while the crews work.

“Southern California Edison is deferring noncritical work while moving forward with critical work to manage public safety and imminent reliability issues, reduce the risk of wildfires and the scale of Public Safety Power Shutoff events during wildfire season and keep our communities safe,” said Pedro Pizarro, president and CEO of Edison International, the parent company of SCE.

More than 25 percent of SCE’s service area is in high-risk fire zones, so wildfire mitigation is a necessity. This includes new technologies, as well as insulated wire, that were all factored into the utility’s annual Wildfire Mitigation Plan, which was filed with the California Public Utilities Commission in February.