Southern California

SCE Says There Was a Substation Outage Minutes Before Woolsey Fire Started

Southern California Edison submitted an electrical safety report about the outage near Chatsworth to state regulators

Claiming it was operating out of an "abundance of caution" Southern California Edison submitted an electrical safety report to state regulators telling there was an outage at one of it substations in the San Fernando Valley about two minutes before the Woolsey fire ignited in Ventura County, it was revealed Sunday.

The substation in question was listed as the Chatsworth substation, just south of Simi valley, in the report submitted to the California Public Utilities Commission by SCE Senior Manager Paul Pimentel.

According to the report, the Woolsey fire was reported at 2:24 p.m. Thursday and a circuit went out at the Chatsworth substation at 2:22 p.m.

So far, SCE has not been able to "access our facilities in the vicinity of where the fire reportedly began," according to a utility statement.

SCE asserted that at this point the company had no indication from fire personnel that the Chatsworth substation may have been involved in the start of the fire.

SCE also said the investigation into the outage was ongoing.

So far, the PUC has not issued any comment or statement relating to the matter.

Copyright CNS - City News Service
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