Several electrical pole fires and transformer failures were reported by residents across Malibu last weekend, and again on Monday, Oct. 24. The incidents caused short-term outages that affected multiple neighborhoods throughout the city and reset some traffic signals on Pacific Coast Highway.
Southern California Edison ducked a question regarding the exact number of incidents in the Malibu area. The company’s statement on the issue suggests weather conditions may have caused last weekend’s issues.
“Outages can happen for various reasons including severe weather (drizzles, heavy rains or high winds can damage lines),” Southern California Edison said in a statement to The Malibu Times.
Malibu locals have criticized SCE’s response.
“I didn’t know ‘drizzles’ counted as severe weather,” Council Member Laura Rosenthal quipped. She went on to describe the company’s full statement as “incomplete and very frustrating.”
City Manager Reva Feldman has requested a meeting with SCE following the outages. Edison will meet with the city next week.
The City of Malibu does not track electrical outages. Information about incidents is typically available through contacting Edison.
“Unexpected events like drizzle are not expected to cause a power interruption,” local activist and power grid expert Hans Laetz said.
Laetz has followed the electrical infrastructure issues in Malibu since 2009, a couple of years after a pole failure escalated into a fire that burned down dozens of homes.
Since the outages, SCE has sent trucks through the side streets of Malibu to wash off transformers. The practice is intended to remove salt spray contamination that can cause equipment failure if unattended.
Laetz said he hasn’t seen SCE wash poles in a number of years.
“There are two ways to prevent fires: Use bigger insulators or you wash the contamination off regularly,” Laetz said. “They know they have a problem and they’re trying to eliminate a safety hazard that they should have gotten rid of earlier.”
SCE said washing is done on “an as needed basis based on notification orders that are generated by different departments that routinely do circuit patrols on all circuits throughout the year.”
SCE said it is working with Caltrans to obtain a permit that would allow the company to wash electrical equipment on Pacific Coast Highway.
The power failure caused at least two intersection lights to go out along Pacific Coast Highway during peak rush hour.
PCH and Topanga Canyon Boulevard’s intersection light went out Sunday evening, Oct. 16. The lights blinked red until 8:51 a.m. the next morning when a Caltrans electrician arrived on scene and manually reset them. PCH and Coastline Drive’s intersection went out around 5 p.m. Monday evening, Oct. 17, and was not reset until 9 p.m. later that night. The long outages caused significant traffic backups for Monday commuters in the morning and evening.
Rosenthal contacted Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station to direct traffic for PCH and Topanga Canyon Boulevard after Caltrans said it lacked personnel to manage the intersection.
“It’s infuriating to hear a law enforcement agency that’s responsible for an intersection say they will not direct traffic when we know the backup will be ours and that will impact public safety,” Rosenthal said.
Caltrans said it can only fix lights if it is aware of an issue — and spokespeople say it was not.
Despite going out the night before, Topanga’s outage was not reported to Caltrans until 6:11 a.m.
“If it’s during the day, we want motorists to call public affairs,” Spokesperson Kelly Markham said.
Residents can call 213.897.2656 to report blinking lights. Markham went on to say that evening calls can be reported to 911.
“It’s a safety issue, we have folks working around the clock,” Markham said.
Some intersection lights may remain functional after an outage. Most lights are programmed to reset themselves but older infrastructure or lights that run off of batteries may not reboot efficiently.
SCE’s 2015 report stated 52 percent of outages in Malibu were caused by equipment failure. The company’s reports have suggested a downward trend in incidents since 2013 but no information has been released for 2016.
Residents previously reported numerous power outages in August and September of this year.