Wild winds, power outages, fire danger and cold, cold temperatures

Gusting winds had power crews on high alert for outages Friday, as the blustery conditions threatened to bring down power lines.

As of late morning, about 1,400 Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers in the Sylmar area were without power thanks to a fallen tree. That outage was reported at about 10 a.m., according to the DWP’s Vonda Paige.

Also, there were “a few scattered outages” possibly caused by winds in various parts of Southern California Edison’s jurisdiction in the county as of late this morning. But most of the outages, which affected about 2,300 customers, were caused by maintenance issues, a utility spokesman said.

Gusty Santa Ana winds were also creating the danger of wildfires, but unlike hot summer Santa Anas, temperatures were on the cold side. The high in downtown Los Angeles Friday wasn’t expected to get beyond the low 60s.

An SCE executive noted that the utility’s crews were ready to respond to any problems.

“The system performed well overnight,” said Jim Cherrie, SCE director of grid operations. “We will be closely monitoring the wind conditions this weekend  and SCE has crews ready to respond in case of any additional outages or possible downed wires.”

Edison officials warned people to stay away from downed power lines, even if they do not appear to be live.

A red flag warning denoting fire-weather conditions will be in force until 6 p.m. Saturday.

The warning involves the Santa Monica Mountains, inland Orange County, the San Fernando, Santa Clarita, and eastern San Gabriel valleys, and the L.A County costal zone, which includes beach cities, metropolitan Los Angeles and the Hollywood Hills.

—City News Service