SoCal Edison extended outages: Will power return soon?
Southern California Edison said more than 300,000 people across its service territory were without power Thursday.
"Some of those are from public safety power shutoffs where we have had to proactively, and in advance, turn off the power to reduce the possibility of a hazard," explained Jeff Monford with Southern California Edison. "Another about half of them are from outages."
As people affected by the Eaton Fire lost power and faced evacuation orders, many sought refuge at hotels.
Still, employees have managed to check in guests who needed a room, even when their own power went out. Some of the workers themselves have been without power for nearly two days.
"First day, I had to look in my refrigerator, throw things out because maybe it's not good anymore. So, what can I do? What can I say?" said Arcadia resident Alberto Mayo.
SCE is directing customers to its website for a map of outages and information on what may be causing them.
As far as when the power is returning, SCE didn't have an estimate as of Thursday afternoon.
"We cannot talk accurately about restoration times," said Monford. "The event is so large, and truly unprecedented, that we have all the crews we have, including crews that have come in from northern California to lend a hand working to restore power."
The utility company says all lines have to be inspected before power is restored, even in case of public safety power shutoffs.
"We have to make sure there's no windborne debris stuck up in those lines that would cause a hazard if we re-energize them," said Monford.
