Power Outage Victims Draw Sympathetic Ear – But Not Much Else – From The Blackout Company

A few Malibu residents poured their hearts out to Southern California Edison over its dismal record of serving Malibu last night.

The company was required to hold an explanation meeting … a state requirement that it explain to Malibu residents how it plans to increase the number of PSPS dlablackouts this winter

PSPS os government-speak for intentional power outages during forecasts of winds. 

Not actual winds .,.. but oftentimes just whispers of winds.

A panel of very nice … very empathetic Edison employees took comments from a handful of people. 

There were no time limits … several people poured they hearts out. 

Leah Johnson lost three houses … she spoke for more than 20 minutes. No one would interrupt her. 

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“Guys we had enough.

“Literally, we had enough.

“How come – again –  how come other neighborhoods don’t go through this?

“I personally believe you are holding us hostage to the PSPS.”

The company did not yield one inch.

SCE engineer Ray Fugiere.  

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“We use PSPS as a tool that we do use throughout our whole high fire area in our system. It is not just only used to Malibu.

“We are using it everywhere so Orange County parts of San Bernardino where there is high fire risk area. We will use it when the wind and the fire conditions meet our fire criteria.”

Many in the room were not allowed to speak, as the meeting dragged past 8 o’clock.

The company patted itself on the back for having had plans to underground 90 miles of Malibu cables even before the fire even broke out … and after the fire they decided to replace 110 miles of burned down overhead lines with underground wires. 

Except … that’s not really what’s going to happen. 

SCE is leaving some of the overhead wires up … the service lines between underground transformers… and individual customers. 

SCE is removing the heavy cables from the crossarms … and sawing off the crossarm themselves. 

The service lines …connecting to streetlights and houses … and poles will remain up. 

And transmission lines … the big ones across the mountains … they will never be buried.

Turns out … SCE has a big ask from the City of Malibu.

The company is required by the state to underground some of its power lines in high fire risk areas … that works is already underway … with plans to underground 200 miles of lines in Malibu.

The city of Malibu has a legal agreement with SCE … the power company made a written promise to remove overhead poles and wires when they are taken out of service.

But Edison entered into that equipment knowing that it had sold access to these overhead poles to half a dozen communications companies … cellphones … internet … et cetera. 

SCE says they cannot remove the overhead poles … as required by the city.

An Edison official wants the city to let them out of that requirement.

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“We cannot start to energize with current language in the agreement with the city that has us take down someone else’s property. 

“We’re just not able to do that at this point so we have to figure out this piece but that right now is a plan 90 miles in the burn scar 110 miles that would impact 7200 customers and take them off of PSPS.”

Except … that’s not really what’s going to happen either. 

Moving people onto underground circuits will not end intentional shutoffs … it might lessen them … but not eliminate them.

A few moments of news did occur.

SCE announced that it is running out of money to pay for customers to install their own whole-house batteries. 

The program gives ratepayers the capacity to store a day’s worth of power at home … not enough for a days-long PSPS power cutoff … 

But they are big enough for people to get thru the temporary inconvenience of an accidental power outage.

SCE announced last night that no further applications will be accepted after the end of the year.

Malibu-Area Fire Chopper Tanks Ran Out Of Water During January Fire, County Reveals

Los Angeles County Fire revealed yesterday that a key piece of Malibu firefighting equipment ran dry due the January firestorm.

69 Bravo … the helicopter water tank atop the Santa Monica Mountains near Topanga … has a plumbing problem.

Fire Chief Anthony Marrone disclosed the problem yesterday … at a lengthy fire postmortem … where he was questioned by county supervisor Lindsay Horvath. 

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MARRONE: “69 Bravo performed very well during the seventh (of January). It allowed the firefighters …” 

HORVATH, INTERRUPTING: “Did it run out of water?”

MARRONE: “I think it ran out of water that night and we had to work with DPW to get a line opened up. I believe it was district 29 and also the lost Virgin water district that eventually refilled the five pumpkin..”

The five pumpkins are the orange water tanks on top of the mountain at 69 bravo… Which sits on a ridge top between Malibu and Topanga Canyon.

Helicopters use the pumpkins to fill up their tanks… And the loss of the pumpkins had not been reported until yesterday’s hearing.

That was one of several revelations at an hours long dissection of the McChrysatl Report … the county’s after action examination of how it handled the fires in Malibu. … Pacific Palisades … and over at Altadena. 

The Palisades fire killed 12 people … 3 of them in Malibu … and took out 6800 houses. The Eaton fire killed 19 people and destroyed 9,400 structures in Altadena. 

County supervisors were angry over a 42 minute gap in warnings being issued by the county fire department. 

Malibu’s supervisor … Lindsay Horvath … said parts of the county like Malibu did really well.

Others were deadly failures.

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“Your report highlights critical failures across the county, including outdated policies, unclear authority, and leadership, gaps and staffing, training and technology, and fragmented and inconsistent communication systems.

“At the same time we saw a model of success in the Santa Monica Mountains through strong community preparedness, effective resident training, and local partnerships that saved lives. 

“This approach must be scaled county-wide.”

Horvath was visibly angry as she pointed out that that the McChrystal report had factual errors and omissions.

She says her office churned out warning after warning that the hurricane force winds were in the forecast … but the McChrystal Report missed that,

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“There’s a section where there’s one bullet for district 5 and one bullet for district 3 about what we did.

“And if anyone read that they would think that we failed miserably to inform our residents, and that that was all we did.

“When in fact, we did much more.”

The county supervisors voted 5-0 to drastically increase the number of people working on emergency management in LA … and make the office a separate department.  

We will have more on the fire follow-up controversy on tomorrow’s newscast. 

‘Rebuilding Ambassador” Term Expires, Abe Roy Resigns In Anger, Mayor Takes Responsibility

The city’s unofficial fire ambassador has resigned … after the city manager told him his three month appointment window has expired.

His appointment was for three months … three months had gone by … and apparently the city council had neglected to extend it.

Abe Roy is the ambassador … and by all accounts … he has done a tremendous job as a go-between people rebuilding their homes … and city staff.

Monday night … Roy said he was fed up and is resigning. 

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“Most disturbing of all (is) a claim that I took this role for personal gain.

“My role as a developer and builder running a design-build firm has been transparent from the start. 

“My expertise in construction was precisely why residents supported my appointment.

“My firm primarily developed spec homes in LA and OC.

“I have countless hours – countless unpaid hours – advising neighbors and their design teams.

“I even visited the rebuild center with them, and declined offers to be paid as a consultant.”

Roy called claims that he his using his position as volunteer ambassador to get work as unfounded and cliched. 

In a memo obtained by a local newspaper … the LA Times … he suggested that the mayor resign her title of mayor … but not so far as to suggest she resign her council seat. 

There was a roomful of unhappy city residents Tuesday night.

Collin Drummond was one. 

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“This whole fiasco is disturbing. 

“It’s premature and it’s confusing. 

“We’ve been told this position has been eliminated with no reason given.

“This doesn’t make any sense.

“So I have to ask what the heck is going on???

“Why would the city remove a fellow resident fire victims trust to deal with the collective power of City Hall????”

Malibu Mayor Marianne Riggins is taking responsibility for the removal of Roy as the city’s fire ambassador … even though it was technically the interim city manager who did it. 

And the city manager had been given power by the city council to make a decision after three months … a period that expired last Friday.

Riggins nonetheless took the blame. 

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“I’m gonna take responsibility for the issue with Abe Roy. “

“I discussed with the city manager. 

“I did not discuss it with any other council members so she and I had a conversation.

“We talked about the 90 days that had originally been talked about for the ambassador’s time frame … 

“And we …I … decided that we would go ahead and put a commendation towards Abe Roy for the outstanding work that he has done so far.

“And that the (neighborhood review) process was going to be brought to the level of the zone captains.

“And not to have one particular head, but that the captains would all equally have a seat at the table and everything would run through them.”

Building permits for fire rebuilds are backed up in Malibu … and many rebuild families are pointing the fingers at the consultants who examine geological stability for projects. 

Riggins says 69 fire victim families have received zoning approval .. the first step towards rebuilding.

But only 17 of those people have taken the major steps of submitting actual constriction blueprints for city approval.

Two of those permits have been granted … for construction to begin. 

Broad Beach Construction Company Defends Itself After Crane Fiasco, Councilman Tells Them To Fix Things

Residents on Broad Beach have had it with the construction site where a crane tipped over last Thursday.

The neighbors say they are endangered by daily construction work … which has blocked traffic and … residents say … endangered pedestrians.

The house is reportedly owned by Milwaukee Brewers owner

He has been accused by the state Coastal Commission of stealing sand on the beach.

The crane tip-over was the final straw. 

Residents are angry … they say the construction crews are blocking the street … endangering them as they walk their dogs. 

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“I walk my dog on the street almost daily and do that we have to pass by the construction site the day before the accident. 

“The swing arm of the crane was hovering over the road and cars and pedestrians were waved through to pass under it.

“My dog was nervous and I was scared, so we ran up the hill to get through the area as quickly as possible I should not have had to do that.”

Monday night … contractor Jeremiah Jilk (spelled phonetically) defended his work.

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“While we can fully understand and appreciate the neighbors’ concerns about an ongoing construction project, especially when a piece of equipment tips over, we don’t believe that the city has ignored anything or has not been doing its job in making sure this project is compliant and run safely.”

The contractor said he had replaced the superintendent on the job … the crane operator was uninjured …. And all are back at work.

Council member Steve Uhring bawled out the construction guy at Monday night … for allowing his construction workers to block safe passage on Broad Beach Road. 

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“Why the hell do you got them parked over there? 

“You’re blocking the road,

“I mean I live on Malibu Knolls, when everybody’s building up there, we take the construction people, we make them park them down someplace else and bring them in by bus or something.

“That’s part of the problem that you heard people talking about tonight, and you can fix that..”

State investigators are looking into the crane tip over. 

The city building inspectors are also on the site … making sure workplace safety rules for the public passing by are observed. 

Trump Administration Sues LA County Sheriff To Put More Hidden Guns On Streets

The Trump Administration yesterday sued the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department … demanding more hidden handgun permits on the streets.

The Justice Department claims the LA sheriff has violated Californians’ Second Amendment rights.

The trauma lawsuit claims the sheriff’s office approved only two concealed carry weapons permits out of more than 8,000 applications over the course of 15 months.

Sheriff Robert Luna says the feds got their numbers wrong.

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“I wish we didn’t have to make people way too long, but we’ve got to do it right I don’t want to be issuing CCW to people that shouldn’t have them who have criminal histories or have mental health histories.

“So I wanna make sure that when our name’s on it that you actually should have one.”

Sheriff Robert Luna was speaking to ABC 7 News. 

In a statement … the Sheriff’s Department said that Luna “inherited a dysfunctional system” and the department has just 13 people to handle the thousands of concealed gun permit applications submitted each year.