Just before Thanksgiving, two Southern California Edison crews put the finishing touches on critical circuit upgrades that will bring much-needed relief and reliability to the Lake Hughes community.

“This community out here has been hit pretty hard with Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) lately — some of the heaviest impact in our service area,” said Lucas Passick, SCE field supervisor.

When brush is dry, humidity is low and winds pick up, SCE uses PSPS as a tool to keep communities safe. During a PSPS event in mid-August this year, dangerous fire weather conditions triggered five outages in this community, affecting over 400 customers each time.

“The brush around here has been at historically dry levels,” said Ted Gribble, SCE principal manager of Wildfire Operational Strategies. “When you combine that with the wind they were seeing in the late summer period, it really increased the fire risk. We had to turn off the power to make sure the electric equipment didn’t become the source of an ignition.”

To help prevent future shutoffs, crews have been replacing all bare wire on the impacted circuit with covered conductor — an insulated, fire-resistant coating designed to reduce wildfire risk. This upgrade is part of SCE’s larger wildfire mitigation plan that aims to reduce the risk of utility-caused ignitions.

“If the wires were to come together, or one of these bushes became a tumbleweed and blew up into the lines, the covered conductor would keep it from creating a spark,” Gribble said. “When we reduce the risk like that, we are able to use PSPS less.”

With the final installation of two new fiberglass poles — a more resilient alternative to the wooden ones — and the last three spans of upgraded lines completed, the 106-mile-long circuit is now fully made up of covered conductor in high fire risk areas, totaling 96 miles. That means during weather events, the new wire can withstand higher wind speeds and the community’s power will stay on more often.

This final leg of the project had been in planning for the last three years, but this November, working with the California Department of Water Resources, SCE secured the last remaining construction permit. The community is surrounded by protected lands and habitats, and the East Branch of the State Water Project runs right through — meaning many areas have restricted access that crews are not able to work on without obtaining the appropriate permits.

Due to the delays and the way this circuit is configured, customers whose section of the circuit was already replaced with covered conductor may have still had their power turned off during a PSPS event.

“We have to upgrade the entire circuit before everyone fed from it sees the benefit,” Passick said. “We try to isolate sections of the circuit or switch people to other circuits, when possible, but the only real fix was getting that whole circuit completed.”

“Most of the guys out here live in an area impacted by PSPS, so this hits close to home for all of us. It feels good to know our work is helping this community to see some relief.”

For more information on SCE’s wildfire safety efforts, visit sce.com/wildfiresafety.