Posted on 01/11/2025 12:56:09 PM PST by Libloather
Faults along Los Angeles’ power grid surged in the same locations where three of this week’s massive wildfires are raging, a company that monitors electrical activity said.
Whisker Labs recorded sharp increases in faults in the hours prior to the Eaton, Palisades and Hurst Fires, its chief executive officer Bob Marshall told Fox News Saturday.
In the Palisades area, the largest of the fires, there were 63 grid faults in the two to three hours prior to the start of the fire, Marshall said.
There were also 18 faults registered in the hour it began Tuesday.
He also said there were 317 grid faults “in the hours preceding” the Eaton Fire near Altadena and about 230 that occurred before the Hurst Fire.
He said on a typical day there are few faults.
Although investigators have yet to determine the cause of the wildfires, sparks from faults can fall to the ground and ignite vegetation.
High winds can then carry flames at rapid speeds.
“What we cannot say … is whether one of those faults caused the fire. We don’t know that,” Marshall said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
That is only partially correct. I heard a fire chief on Fox last night explain it obliquely and I correctly surmised what he was talking about. Trace Galligher didn't get it.
But I swear that I read it was Southern California Edison that managed the lines in question...could be wrong.
You are wrong. I've long known that it is LADWP (pronounced "LA deewop"), as "celebrated" in the movie Chinatown. It's SCE in Orange County, San Diego, and points east.
It never occurred to me that anyone could be so stupid as to not have back up diesel generators for critical infrastructure.
California really sets the standard for dumb and dumberer.
As I stated, I didn’t think I was crazy. But crazy is the patchwork of areas of responsibility.
What I posted was the clearest I could find for the time I was willing to expend.
We’ll know soon enough for sure.
It really begs credulity to use the word “fault” in an area where tectonic activity has been a known concern for decades. WTF kind of “fault” are they talking about here?
Any grid presents an opportunity for mischief, whether natural or man-made. I hope the development of home-based micro power plants succeeds.
Meanwhile we ought to study and revise the intensity and routing of the grid we already have. I am not sold on these LA fires as being anything but a converging manifestation of gross negligence.
“I don’t understand why they don’t bury their lines considering the danger of fire.”
Several reasons:
1. enormous costs of underground cable.
2. much higher resistant loss when cable is buried, which heats the cable itself. That is related to the current drawn.
3. danger of the cable being cut by someone who does not know the cable is there. Communication cables are often cut by excavation, that is low voltage. Those low voltages are not life threatening.
I have one buried power cable at my home, it is about 40 feet long. The electrical cable is rated direct burial (not UF romex), and it is also inside a grey PVC conduit to the water well head. All it runs is a 1/2 HP 220VAC submersible pump for watering my yard and plants.
Note, in previous California urban fires, there were some that they blamed on the new Smart Meters. Some claimed the meters themselves caused the fire.
not well explained....
so, what is a “fault” ???
beyond something that causes sparks.
There are two battles going on.
One, the fight against the fire. The second is a PR battle.
LA and California State leadership have to be careful with how blame is focused. If anything, they’d all like to see this blamed on nature (aka global warming).
They can’t let this be blamed on anything which can be tied back to a policy that is currently in place. The do not want to see homeless or illegals blamed. They don’t want any blame placed on lack of water or infrastructure.
This will be interesting to see how this evolves because social media bypasses the filtered press releases and Pravda news. And not everyone is on board this time. The “stars” are upset. The simpletons are upset with the stars. There is finger pointing everywhere and yet, as someone pointed out, not a Republican anywhere to blame.
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