California utility may shut off the lights to fight wildfires

Last update: April 16, 2009 - 9:12 PM

JULIAN, CALIF. - There probably is not a person in this mountain town who has mentally deleted the images of 2007, when flames roared across the nearby freeway, killing neighbors in communities close by and engulfing hundreds of homes.

Eager to avoid a repeat of that horrific year, and the ensuing lawsuits, officials of San Diego County's chief power utility have hatched a disputed plan to deal with one potential fire source: downed power lines. If electrical wires can cause fires when winds and temperatures are high, the officials say, then electricity itself will have to go.

San Diego Gas & Electric says that if the state approves the idea, it will shut off power to thousands of residents in the "backcountry" of northeastern San Diego County under fire-friendly conditions: low moisture, high temperatures and sustained winds of at least 35 miles per hour. Power would remain off until those conditions passed. The utility envisions shutdowns as short as 12 hours or perhaps as long as 72.

This is the first time such a proposal has been made by a power company in California, where the threat of wildfires has grown exponentially over the last decade, in large part because of a protracted drought.

Eight large wildfires devastated parts of the state in the fall of 2007, and three of them -- including the second-largest fire in the state's recorded history, which burned in this area -- were caused by downed electrical wires. Since then, 126 families have sued the company for damages.

The shut-off plan, covering roughly 130,000 residents of small towns across 1,600 square miles, has infuriated local water authorities, who count on electricity to feed water wells.

It has also caused an uproar among many homeowners, who fear that a lack of power could in some cases worsen a fire rather than prevent one.

NEW YORK TIMES

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