A Public Safety Power Shutoff has been implemented for areas of Montecito and Santa Barbara, authorities said Sunday, and another may occur in the coming days.
“SoCal Edison has turned power off to parts of the western end of Montecito and the City of Santa Barbara due to fire weather conditions,” Montecito Fire officials said on social media.
“Power is estimated to be restored by midnight Monday.”
Some 60 customers of Southern California Edison in Santa Barbara County were affected by the outage.
When the fire conditions end, restoration can take up to eight hours or longer if SCE crews need daylight for safe inspections or if they locate damaged equipment, according to the utility.
A possible power safety shutoff under consideration in the coming days would affect nearly 4,000 other customers in Santa Barbara County, the utility company added.
Power shutoffs occur during extreme weather events including those involving windy conditions combined with dry vegetation.
The National Weather Service said a Red Flag Warning will be in effect from 10 p.m. Monday to noon Wednesday due to gusty east winds and low relative humidity in the mountains of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.
Periods of east winds between 20 and 35 mph may occur with gusts to 50 mph, according to the forecast.
“If fire ignition occurs, conditions are favorable for very rapid fire spread and extreme fire behavior, including long range spotting, which would threaten life and property,” the NWS said.