As of 8 a.m. on Jan. 13, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has restored power to all customers affected by last week’s windstorm, except those in the fire threat areas where fire authorities have requested that the public power utility de-energize its power lines.
This affects approximately 17,600 customers in High Fire Risk areas, including Pacific Palisades, Brentwood, Sylmar and Encino.
LADWP crews will begin to restore power to these customers once its receive clearance from CAL FIRE to re-energize the circuits and assess the lines for hazards.
“We also have equipment affected by fire retardant that needs to be cleaned before we can re-energize these power lines,” it said.
Crews have restored power to more than 360,000 customers since the start of the windstorm.
Supporting the Fire Response
“We want customers to know that we are taking every step available to us to support firefighting and restore water pressure to the Palisades area in advance of more high winds,” it said. “We have over six billion gallons of water available in four open-air reservoirs for aerial firefighting support.”
Encino and Hollywood reservoirs have already been heavily used. LADWP’s Hollywood Reservoir, Lower Stone Canyon and the Encino Reservoirs “have been critical in protecting lives and property throughout the firefight. They will remain a critical part of the firefight and are fully available.”
LADWP is also supporting firefighting efforts with 19 water tankers, each holding 2,000 to 4,000 gallons, running continuously to supply water to firefighters. They’ll keep supplying water ahead of forecasted high winds and continue until the fires are fully contained.
Over 200 LADWP employees are working to restore water pressure to the Palisades area. They must first shut off services that were destroyed by fire to restore system pressure by fixing the customer and distribution system leaks and close all fire hydrants that were left open.
They have shut off over 4,200 residential and commercial connections to homes and businesses and over 2000 remain. This will help boost water pressure throughout the system, restoring flow to our storage tanks at higher elevation and pipes in the Palisades area.
This process requires multiple steps at various elevations to charge the pipes with water, identify leaks, and then repair or cap services. Once enough repairs are made, pressure will be strong enough to refill the tanks.
During the current wildfire response, LADWP representatives are going door-to-door in many affected neighborhoods to check on customers and see if their power is back on, or if they’re still waiting for power to be restored.
“We are aware that scammers may use this opportunity to take advantage of customers in their vulnerable state. LADWP personnel will be wearing their uniforms or vest and will always carry a LADWP badge,” the utility noted.
It urged customers to make sure to check LADWP badges and ask for further identification if they have any doubts as to the legitimacy of the person or persons at their door.
"For any one whose properties have been destroyed, we understand that during this extremely difficult time, receiving billing notices can be especially stressful," it said, noting that it is pausing billing and reminder notices to areas directly affected by the fires "and we encourage any customer experiencing hardship as a result of the fires to reach out to us."
