Residents who want to know if they are in
the San Diego Gas & Electric Company’s (SDG&E)
proposed Fire Safety Emergency Power Shut Off (EPSO) Program,
can find their address on an interactive map that the power
company has put on its Web site.
A customer can put in an address and find out whether his home
or business is in or out of the plan. Visit the link at: www.sdge.com/safety/fireprep/fireMapIntro.shtml
When you log on to the sdge.com/firesafety site, the information
on the Community Fire Safety Program is right at the top of
the screen. The link to the interactive map is in the top right-hand
corner of the screen. Click on that link, which takes you to
a page with more information about the map. Scroll to the bottom
and you’ll see another link to the interactive map. Click
on that one and you’ll be prompted to type in your address
in a box at the top right side of the screen. Once you do that,
a bubble will appear to tell you whether you're in or out of
a high fire risk area. You also can click on a link to the current
conditions connected to that weather station—the status
of all five fire triggers.
According to SDG&E spokesman Stephanie Donovan, “The
interactive map available at www.sdge.com/firesafety
is the best and most up-to-date resource for customers to find
out whether their home or business is in or out of SDG&E’s
Emergency Power Shut-Off plan footprint. As our reliability
projects are completed, we will update the online map to reflect
the areas that are no longer part of the plan. Our goal is to
have these projects finished by Sept. 1, but until they are
officially complete, the map will not be revised to remove those
customers related to the improvement projects.”
The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has not yet ruled on whether
SDG&E will be able to go forward with the plan, which is
scheduled to begin shortly before the fire season. The PUC is
expected to issue a ruling in August or September.
If the plan goes into affect, some areas of the Backcountry,
including most of Valley Center and Pauma Valley, are subject
to power shut-offs during Red Flag alerts that include high
winds and low humidity, along with other factors.
Valley Center Municipal Water District along with five other
public water agencies serving the north and east county rural
communities remain opposed to the SDG&E EPSO.
The district has put a link to the abovementioned SDG&E
Web site, along with a statement reiterating the district’s
opposition.
According to VCMWD Gen. Mgr. Gary Arant, “Our opposition
is based upon the EPSO’s general impact on our customers
and communities and its specific negative impact on our
ability to sustain water service at a time when it is most needed:
when citizens and firefighters need water to protect lives,
homes and property.”
With the current system improvement programs undertaken by SDG&E,
like the project on Old Castle Road the boundaries will change
and probably by September or October of this year, as well as
year to year based upon the elapse of time since the last time
an area burned.
