SCE shares wildfire mitigation efforts

Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric won’t comment on pending lawsuits related to wildfires but representatives are speaking out about wildfire prevention effort.

SCE spokesperson David Song gave a presentation to the Santa Barbara City Council meeting on Tuesday.

“We want to make sure we are never the cause or source of any kind of wildfire that takes place,” said Song.

He said crews are working to “harden the grid.”

Edison says they are replacing wooden power poles with poles made from less flammable materials.

Song said they are not automatically testing systems when there is a fault in the line during high fire conditions.

“When you do that and there is downline it can cause a spark and cause other issues,” said Song. “We also have a situational awareness center where we are monitoring everything.”

Customers may be warned about a public safety power shut off.

Songs said a Public Safety Power Shut Off is a way to preemptively shut off power to certain areas of service as a last resort.