Santa Barbara County Removed from Power Shut Off List

October 20, 2019, 8:30 am 79.1k Views 80 Comments

PSPS Outage Area Map (see the full map here)
Update by SCE
8:30 p.m., October 20, 2019

This is an important safety message from Southern California Edison. Due to current conditions, the SANTA BARBARA area, has been removed from Public Safety Power Shutoff consideration, and no electric service will be proactively turned off at this time. If outages due to other reasons unrelated to Public Safety Power Shutoffs occur in your area, SCE will work as quickly as possible to restore your service. For more information please visit our website at www.sce.com. If you see a downed power line, stay away, call 911, and report this to SCE at 1-800-611-1911

 

Update by edhat staff

1:45 p.m., October 20, 2019

The City of Goleta was removed from Southern California Edison’s (SCE) Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) list for Sunday. However, residents have grown increasingly confused as conflicting information has been released due to SCE’s delay in updating their website as well as confusing notifications.

As of Sunday afternoon, power has not been cut off from Santa Barbara County. The most up-to-date map appears to be from Ready Santa Barbara County at readysbc.org. The full map is available here.

The National Weather Service issued a Red Flag Warning for Santa Barbara County south coast and mountains in effect until 10:00 p.m. Sunday.

SCE is currently monitoring 14 circuits that may impact parts of unincorporated Santa Barbara County along the Gaviota coast, between the cities of Goleta and Santa Barbara, Montecito and Summerland, and parts of incorporated Goleta, Santa Barbara and Carpinteria. The period of concern for possible de-energization for 8 out of the 14 circuits began at 12pm (noon) today. No PSPS related outages have occurred at this time. The remaining circuits’ period of concern begin at 3pm and 6pm. Additionally, some customers received SCE notification this weekend that a shutoff has been avoided for their area.

SCE has deployed a Community Resource Vehicle Sunday until 5:00 pm equipped with charging stations and SCE staff will be on-site to address your questions at the following locations:

Update by edhat staff

6:05 p.m., October 18, 2019
 

As of Friday evening, more of Santa Barbara County has been added as “under consideration” for the PSPS list. Currently, 24,148 SCE customers could be affected. 

Southern California Edison (SCE) has notified the public that they are considering turning off power to several areas of Santa Barbara County this weekend (October 18-20) due to expected high winds.  Power has not yet been turned off for these areas.  The outage may impact unincorporated areas of southern Santa Barbara County and in parts of Goleta, Santa Barbara and Carpinteria.  To determine if you live or work in or near a potential outage area, go to ReadySBC.org to access the PSPS interactive map.  Residents are encouraged to make preparations for a possible multiple day power outage lasting as long as 5-7 days and check on friends and neighbors to make sure they are prepared.  Call SCE directly at 1-800-611-1911 or visit www.sce.com/safety/wildfire/psps with questions related to this potential outage.

Here are some helpful resources:

Update by edhat staff

8:15 a.m., October 18, 2019

As of Friday morning, 6,702 customers in Santa Barbara County have been added to the potential PSPS list.

Update by Office of Emergency Management

9:40 p.m., October 17, 2019
 
Southern California Edison (SCE) has notified the public that they are considering turning off power to some areas of Santa Barbara County later this week due to expected high winds.  Power has not yet been turned off for these areas.  The outage may impact an area from Buena Vista Avenue in Montecito through parts of Summerland and to the intersection of Linden Avenue and State Route 192 in Carpinteria, going as far north as the end of Toro Canyon Road and mostly staying on the mountainous side of the 101. 
 
If you live or work in or near this area, you should make preparations for a possible multiple day power outage lasting as long as 5-7 days.  More information will be provided as it becomes available.  We encourage residents to check on your friends and neighbors to make sure they are prepared.  Call SCE directly at 1-800-611-1911 or visit www.sce.com/safety/wildfire/psps with questions related to this potential outage.  For tips on how to prepare and register for public safety notifications, go to ReadySBC.org and click “Preparing for a Public Safety Power Shutdown (PSPS).”

Update by edhat staff

12:00 p.m., October 17, 2019
 
Southern California Edison (SCE) has removed sections of Santa Barbara County as of Thursday afternoon.

Currently, the PSPS websites stated 1,966 customers in Santa Barbara County will be affected in the following areas:

  • Unincorporated areas including Gaviota, Goleta, Lompoc, Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, Montecito, Summerland

The designated areas and maps change frequently. Be sure to check https://www.sce.com/safety/wildfire/psps for the latest information. 

Update by edhat staff

3:30 p.m., October 16, 2019

As of Wednesday afternoon, Santa Barbara County has been added to the “Public Safety Power Shutoff” (PSPS) consideration list that would potentially affect 6,689 customers.

The designation areas include downtown Santa Barbara, Mission Canyon, the Riviera, Turnpike/Calle Real, and more. The full list and maps are below:

The designated areas and maps change frequently. Be sure to check https://www.sce.com/safety/wildfire/psps for the latest information. 

By edhat staff
10:00 a.m., October 16, 2019

Southern California Edison has issued a “Public Safety Power Shutoff” warning for parts of Montecito, Summerland, and Carpinteria on Friday. A warning was also issued for sections of Gaviota.

As of Wednesday morning, Santa Barbara County was removed from the consideration list, but residents should still be alert.

The Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management is recommending that people be prepared to endure a power outage lasting 3-5 days. Residents are asked to keep cell phones and portable chargers charged, keeping gas tank full or electric vehicle fully charged, have flashlights and other lighting devices ready, have a hand crank or battery-operated radio to tune into these listed stations to receive updates, have 5-days worth of non-perishable food, and one gallon of water per person per day.

For further information please see the links below:

 
Edhat Staff

Written by Edhat Staff

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80 Comments

  1. I too am not receiving notices via SMS or email.
    The only way to fix this is to make public utilities, well… Public Utilities! The idea of privatizing anything that is a basic living necessity (and I’ll argue that electricity is one) is simply crazy. The whole point of a corporation – even one with complicit government oversight – is to make as much money as possible, not serve the public good. The money they make goes in their pockets. It stays there. They have so much money they can’t possibly spend it all but they still need more. It’s a personality disorder really. The money they make by squeezing it out of you and me is not being used to properly maintain, upgrade, or modernize the electrical grid. So, the only way to fix this is to take the profit motive out of the equation by making the utility a truly public one. What are the odds of something like that happening in this era? Zilch. And that’s sad. So you had better just become a prepper and get your MREs stocked and 50 gals of drinking water ready. None of this is going to end anytime soon and will only get worse with climate change (yes, that’s a real thing).

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  3. “The whole point of a corporation – even one with complicit government oversight – is to make as much money as possible, not serve the public good.” Many business are ‘corporations’, somewhere around 10,000,000 in the US. They aren’t all greedy/sleazy like you imply. ‘Corporation’ has turned into such a bad word in the last few years.

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  7. The solution to the problem is to increase natural gas production in Santa Barbara County, and burn that natural gas in gas fired electrical powerplants located near the end users. Bringing electricity over dangerous power lines that run through forests must be ended.

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  10. Lets pray the guys at SCE flipping the switches got some brain left. It’s not a certainty given how this is playing out. They cannot even get the simplest things smoothed out for the public before pulling the plugs.

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  12. What a disgrace – forget about the maps – if you live mountainside of 101, assume you will lose power at some point. Since the fire last week in Sylmar was due to an SCE power line, assume they will not be shy in pulling the plug…

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  13. I think having to shut the power off is shocking and unacceptable. Say what you will of SCE and PG&E, but they are heavily regulated by the state so the state government is responsible. The state government works for us, so we are ultimately responsible! Since we are the true senior level management of the state of California, I say it’s time we make some changes around here to put things right. Last time power outages became a regular problem, we fired the governor. I think it’s time to do that again. A recall petition has already been started, and I would encourage everyone to sign. We need some new leadership in Sacramento to ensure reliable infrastructure is restored.

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  17. Sorry. This sounds as unhelpful as most SCE’s communication so far. Does this high-fire map mean PSPS being considered, imminent, or just “high fire hazard”? Of course we all know we live in some fire hazard area. SCE is a disaster all by itself.

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  18. I am currently on the phone with a so cal edison rep. I asked her to help break down the areas on the maps for the planned shut-offs, and she seems to have no clue there are even maps! I’m on hold as she keeps checking with people, and the best she can come up with is that EVERYONE could be shut down depending on the winds, and there are no real designated areas. No area is more or less likely to be shut down, according to her. Yes, this is what she said.

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  21. If Washington didn’t make the power companies dump billions into new energy, they could have upgraded their systems to withstand all types of weather conditions. Now they are going bankrupt, and the fearless leaders that bilked them in the first place want to make them pay restitution to folks that get shut down. I’m all for solar, wind and hydro power. But we first have to make the power structure safe as it stands.

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  22. I called earlier and asked about alerts and notices, and what they promised to 48 hours heads-up nowhere to be found. The rep and the supervisor couldn’t even admit SCE posted such procedures on their own website, just wanted to send me off. I was MAD! The rep and supervisor aren’t unique at SCE. The whole gang is beyond reasonably bad; it is criminal, likely risk lives down the road.

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  26. Unfortunately when the government runs something it turns into a bureaucratic and inefficient operation whose primary purpose is to provide highly paid jobs and lucrative benefits for large numbers of government employees.

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  28. All they do is talking. Apparently they cannot even do that well. Total chaos in communicating the potential plans, who and where, no notices and alerts even under PSPS consideration. Don’t trust them when it actually happens. It is shocking SCE couldn’t read their own writing and have employees BS everybody when called to clarify. It is simply incomprehensible and horrifying. This company should go belly up. Let them bankrupt and we start fresh.

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  29. This is stupid and useless What they are saying is that they may, or may not, decide to cut power to some areas. Kinda hard to plan based on that, other than plan for an outage. My candles are ready, batteries staged, get it over with.

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  30. Thinking about this, I can’t overlook ‘Crisis Management 101.’ SCE appears to just be laying down legal defenses, not serving customers. PG&E is doing the same. They are both screwing up. We’ll see how it plays out, but the impression is of monopolies trying to steamroll regulation and the public interest.

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  34. Horrible maps drawn by SCE. On top of that, got no notices of any kind despite we are inside a possible PSPS area in Santa Barbara. On their web site, it clearly says “First Notification: 2 Days Ahead. If weather conditions warrant a possible PSPS, we will notify potentially affected customers. ” What incompetent people work at SCE to get this lousy communication of such critical matters? We are not even talking about actual shutoff. It’s a failed communication process by idiots at SCE.

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  36. There is something happening that they’re not telling us. Last week SF to Sacramento was shut down. This week it’s the central part of the state. If next week is the south you know they’re just playing musical chairs and blaming it on weather. We’ve had RAGING winds in the past for years that both never started fires and power never went out. Yes, bankruptcies are causing some reflective pain. However, there’s deception afoot.

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  37. My take is that they are setting us up to ask for a big increase in our power rates to pay for the infrastructure improvements they need. Which would you rather have, a $10 monthly increase in your bill or the inconvenience of random power outages during the fall? A coworker says that once you bury a power line, it is very time consuming to find a problem and fix it- and is much more expensive. So the solution to outages will not be cheap to build or maintain.

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  38. 8:11 a.m, your comments are inane. These maps reflect reality. Stamping your feet is not going to change that reality. SCE obviously knows where the electricity is coming from and where and how its is distributed. Their is no editorial choice in these maps or these notices.

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  40. Does anyone know how to interpret this from the Edison page at https://www.sce.com/safety/wildfire/psps?
    The only areas now linked to maps are Gaviota and Montecito. They seem to have removed Mission Canyon but what does “Santa Barbara” mean?
    Here’s what it says, effective 10/17/19 10am:
    “Santa Barbara County (1,966 customers)
    Unincorporated areas including Gaviota, Goleta, Lompoc, Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, Montecito, Summerland”

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  41. LULU2003: Their communication totally sucks. The count did go down a lot, but the maps have become quite vague. It’s just best to be prepared because SCE cannot seem to figure which folks are under threat of shutdown.

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  42. The SCE web page is ambiguous. If you look at Santa Barbara County there are only two clickable maps (Gaviota and Montecito) that outline affected areas. None of Santa Barbara, Lompoc, Goleta, Carpinteria, etc is included. So, are we to assume that ONLY those areas outlined on the two maps would suffer actual outages if nothing else changes? Seems like there are more than 1966 customers in the total of cities listed. I’m confused.

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  44. 2:00 p.m. What is dumb is that you can’t understand the delivery system for electricity, only that it is usually available like magic at your wall socket! If there is a shutoff to your home it is because the journey of your electricity is a lot longer than you seem able to contemplate.

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  46. This is crazy…I do agree…we all need to be prepared…just confusing.
    I am now in the flat lands of Noleta.
    Used to be in the foothills..
    Got 2 alerts last night, about 9:30…saying Turnpike, to More Mesa, might be shut off.
    We have not had much wind…
    Plus, Sheriffs Station, jail, gas stations, San Marcos, and Vons center, all here.
    Just stressful…one minute…you are excluded on the map, then get a text.

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  47. Perhaps he/she/it likes the fact that none of our statewide power providers have been performing mandatory maintenance for the past twenty years so shutting off our power makes complete sense. And further that our own state regulators have been in duplicitous bed with both SCE and PG&E must make him/her/it happy…

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  49. I’m happy to say I’ve prepared for something like this for a few years now. Guns, ammo, food, water, emergency power cells, first aid kits – I got it all. I can hang for a month without power no problem. But why SHOULD I? Why should the poor schmuck that lives down the street who ISN’T prepared have to put up with it either? I’ve lived in this town since ’78 and there should be no reason for it.

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  50. Don’t want to be snarky…Just saw Montecito, will have boards up..in the Village..maps of possible outages…
    Where is our leadership ????
    Santa Barbara, Goleta ?
    You pay your PIOS, hundreds of thousands of dollars…to do nothing..

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  51. I am in my seventies, and am a car giver for more than one disabled person. I must walk and take the bus to get anywhere. Will the buses be running? If I had a car, will the gas pumps be operating? When I need food, will the grocery stores be able to operate without power? I visit the pharmacy several times a week to pick up life-saving medicine for myself and the people for whom I care. Some of them require refrigeration (insulin). Will Pharmacies be able to dispense medicine necessary for life and health? We can’t refill them before they are due, so two days’ notice doesn’t cut it. I am not even mentioning that it will be in the 80º’s and 90º’s for the next several days. Without a fan, living in an upstairs cube with little ventilation is not healthy for anyone of any age, let alone the elderly. Will people who require chemotherapy and dialysis be able to get it once the generators go out, if they are operable? If a pharmacy could fill prescriptions, could my doctor’s office access patient records? If any of these answers are “NO”, then Santa Barbara is as vulnerable as Puerto Rico was, with a similar outcome in store for us. Except that the hurricane was an actual thing, not caused by PG&E shirking its responsibility and not anticipating these events years ago, until they were bitten on the butt in the past few years. People are going to die from conditions due to not having electricity – mostly the elderly and the poor, so, meh, right? The actuaries have calculated that the wrongful death settlements will cost less than paying for an entire city burning down and all the agricultural liability they face, etc. – many millions vs many billions. That’s what it’s about. If this happens, Santa Barbara, of all places, becomes like a third world country for a period of time. This is also poorly planned, the maps are atrocious and useless. If your power goes off, it’s gonna go off, and if you don’t see yourself on the map, it’s going off anyway. We, the consumer are currently powerless (pun intended) to do anything NOW, but we better get on this once the crisis has passed and come up with a better, more 21st Century plan. What’s up with “smart meters” – are they just one way, or could they be adapted to selectively shut off, thus leaving critical business open to at least keep us fed, hydrated, and healthy, med-wise. This is the most arbitrary, stupid, and self-serving plan ever! I don’t care who came up with this desperate scheme – PG&E, SCE, Gavin Newsmen , or the insurance and reinsurance companies – it needs to be rethought and another solution needs to be found.

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  52. OMG! Friday is here and it’s breezy! Pick one: a) Pitchforks and torches, march on the SCE substations. b) Candles, tea, confections, and mahjong. c) Camping lanterns, liquor, weed, and acoustic music. d) Generators, computers, internet, and gripes on edhat.

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  57. People, please calm down and resist the animal instinct to blame and avoid responsibility. 1. The maps are the maps that SCE uses to show where their electricity goes and therefore are representative of the areas that will lose electricity if certain lines are shut down. The maps are readable if one takes a few moments to identify geographical points. 2. SCE and PGE and other utilities corrupted the Public Utilities Commission that was supposed to protect consumers. The politicians ignored this. So both of these institutions are at blame. 3. The losses from last year’s disastrous fires resulted in large lawsuits that will bankrupt these companies if they are successful. It is understandable that the companies will now act to avoid such liability in the future so will be aggressive in shutting down systems that may be compromised by the weather. We, as consumers/customers and voters have the duty to make changes that will deal with this in the immediate future. That is not going to happen overnight. Meanwhile the idea that the problem is “fuel overload” and other excuses has to be ignored. Real answers will take time and money.

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  58. Blame and whining are of zero value, only preparedness matters. Otherwise you’ll be watching your 100 pack of organic, free range, vegan, gluten free, Texas-style BBQ kale burritos thaw with no way to keep them cold.

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  60. Get a Westinghouse i4500 Duel Fuel generator. About $1000 and well worth it for your piece of mind. While you’re at it, tell SCE you will de deducting the cost for the generator from your electrical bill over the next few months of their invoices; I’m sure they will agree 🙂

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  63. SCE should install giant fans to blow the Santa Ana winds back towards the desert- a mighty battle to protect us from nature. The fans will consume tons of electricity which is good for SCE’s bottom line, SCE survives bankruptcy, plus our power stays on. Your basic win win situation.

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  65. Ironically, these shut offs are about protecting SCE from liability, which means shutting down their lines in the hills, whether or not folks miles away from the lines are in any real danger from a fire. This may not go well in the long run, and may result in even more loss of life if people are unable to monitor fires in their area due to lack of electricity driven devices and related warnings.

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  66. How about this solution until the power lines are updated? Since the concern is downed power lines, why not require SCE in conjunction with the County and City clear all brush within 200 feet of any power line. Without out the fuel from the brush a downed power line has nothing to burn.

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  67. I think we have to be very careful about passively allowing the utility companies to get away with this. What’s next? Water companies forcing us to ration and telling us we can only use 20 gallons a day and not to flush our toilets? Gas companies telling us we have to use our charcoal or wood burning BBQ’s more? Are we going the way of South Africa and Venezuela, and so many other formerly functioning countries? Is it all boiling down to whether you can afford to use more water, buy a generator, or have a propane tank (or private jet)? This isn’t okay. It’s a means of control, forced destabilization and subjugation.

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  70. “What other choice do they have?” They could spend the money necessary to replace 19th Century technology with 21st Century technology. A for-profit entity only looks at the next quarter of earnings, not the next decades of more of this climate-driven increased fire threat. In my entire life – and even when I lived in a small village abroad – have I been threatened with the loss of what is today, something that is necessary for life. Never – until now – in Santa Barbara! It’s bad enough they “gouge” us with the bills, now they can just shut us off at will, depending on what the word is from the insurance and reinsurance companies, who end up paying the bulk of these claims. Remove the threat by upgrading, and the liability goes away. If they can’t do it, then find someone else to do it.

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  71. Our leaders, Board of Supervisors, are paid with tax dollars. One of their jobs is to keep us safe. Instead of all of us doing interpretive dancing with SCE, let the Board take charge of all communication with SCE, and THEN let the Board update us all 3 x a day. Let them figure out the maps. Right now they are looking bad, but they can turn this around…it’s called leadership. Get into the act, Sups.

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  72. 10:10am, You say, “wildfires burn everything clear to the ocean? Always have, always will”? So, when was the last time that happened here? I have probably lived locally longer than you, always near the ocean, and it has never happened in my l lifetime.

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  73. Because they evacuated El Capitan does that mean, to you, the fire burned “to the ocean”? Or just maybe it could? I repeat, never has “burned clear to the ocean” in my experience. Doesn’t mean it never will, just never has so far.

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  74. Yes it has Flicka – 1979 Eagle Cyn fire in west Goleta and 1955 Refugio fire. The 1990 Painted Cave fire would have done the same but the winds backed off – it was across 101 and well into Hope Ranch when that happened. Given the right conditions, it could happen again.
    It has been very windy in the foothills and mountains behind east SB and Montecito the last few nights. The SB Botanic Gardens sensor has showed NE winds gusting to 30+ mph the last 3 nights and into this AM. The Montecito Hills stn has shown gusts of 40-60+ mph! https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mesowest/getobext.php?table=1&wfo=lox&sid=MTIC1

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  76. Notice how the beachfront is not in the shut-off zone? Deference to tourists? F the residents of SB, but make sure the tourists are comfortable. I think they should be shut off first. Either it’s an emergency, or it isn’t. If it is, then don’t protect the tourists from it. If SCE is willing to shut off all means of commerce for everyone else, why not “strangers”, too? Also, is it a good idea to have Cottage Hospital in the shut-off zone, especially, since the ER is going to be full of heat stroke patients if the temperature is what it is expected to be today. At the very least, this is a HUGE PR disaster for SCE and Emergency Services. Just reading these comments, along with the contradictory phone calls and texts. I got a voicemail that SB is “off the list”, then I got two calls that I was “on the list”, and I see on here that many people were notified LAST NIGHT that we are off the list. Nobody seems to know – mostly SCE, who is all over the map. Speaking of maps, there are several versions, and they contradict each other. The interactive map has changed since last month, adding the several block area of downtown on which hundreds or more Senior Housing units are located. Has the HA got a plan for those vulnerable folks? When this current “crisis’ has passed, a REAL plan needs to be put in place, not just making it up as they go. SCE is going to err on the side of their shareholders, not their customers who would prefer not to live under Third World conditions.

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