Power line crews work to restore power in the Sunset Ridge neighborhood after a tree limb fell in morning winds from Hurricane Helene in Lake Worth Beach, Fla., on September 26, 2024. Residents' power was restored by early afternoon.
Los Angeles, California – Millions of Southern Californians should prepare for more frequent and potentially longer power outages this fire season, as utility company Southern California Edison (SCE) tightens its safety protocols amid worsening wildfire conditions.
Citing increasingly extreme weather patterns, including hurricane-force winds and historically dry vegetation, Edison officials say they’ve recalibrated their risk thresholds for Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS)—a controversial but increasingly common tactic to prevent wildfires sparked by power lines.
“For 2025, we have increased the sensitivity of some of our settings, and it does have the potential to increase the frequency of PSPS events across our system,” said Thomas Brady, principal manager at SCE.
The change comes as California enters yet another dangerous fire season. In 2024, Edison shut off power 20 times across its territory. More than 137,000 customers were affected, some without electricity for over 36 hours. Counties like Ventura, Riverside, and Los Angeles were hit hardest, and the vast majority of outages occurred during red flag warnings, when winds topped 50 mph and humidity dropped to single digits.
Already this year, Edison has enacted three shutoffs. Inside its Emergency Operations Center, the utility monitors more than 1,800 weather stations to track wind speeds and fire risk in real time. The company uses a “fire potential index” to assess the likelihood of ignition based on conditions like dryness, wind, and humidity. “We’re seeing fuels in L.A. County as dry as they’ve been since the 1890s,” Brady said.
SCE’s infrastructure has been linked to some of the state’s most destructive fires, including the Thomas and Woolsey blazes. Investigations are still underway into whether the company’s equipment sparked January’s Eaton and Hurst fires.
To reduce that risk, Edison says it’s investing in hardening its system—burying 260 miles of power lines and installing 440 miles of covered conductors that are less likely to ignite fires if struck by debris. Still, officials say PSPS remains a necessary, last-resort tool.
Residents may receive up to three days’ notice before a shutoff. But re-energizing a circuit isn’t immediate. “We wait for dangerous conditions to subside, then send qualified workers out to inspect every line,” Brady explained.
With more frequent outages on the horizon, officials urge residents to prepare: stock emergency kits, charge backup batteries, and learn how to open garage doors manually. For vulnerable residents, Edison offers rebates and some free resources—including batteries for those with medical needs.
The utility’s message is clear: the power may be cut, but the fires must not be lit.
