As high wind warnings remain in place throughout the Inland Empire, many residents are feeling frustrated after days without electricity. Southern California Edison has intermittently shut off power in areas the company has identified as having heightened wildfire risks, which include areas of north Fontana, Bloomington, and Jurupa Valley. The public safety power shutoffs are a tool used by SCE, in “which we may temporarily shut off power to your neighborhood during dangerous weather conditions to prevent our electric system from becoming a source of ignition,” the company says on its website. The shutoffs are a measure of “last resort.” San Bernardino resident Jason Corona said he’s been without power for at least six days, and had a small window on Saturday, Jan. 11, when the power came back on. Corona was at the SCE resource center set up at the Jessie Turner Health and Community Center in Fontana on Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 14, seeking answers and a place to recharge. He said there weren’t many answers provided. Corona lives with his daughter and girlfriend and said he has a small generator at home, enough to keep the fridge and water heater running. “With a generator, we’re trying to survive, but the cost of gas and everything to go keep filling it up, and buying the generator is expensive,” Corona said. “I have been going to friends to charge devices at their house and this is the first time I have come here (the SCE resource center).” He said he is frustrated by the limited communication and what he called the “mishandling of customers.” Supplies from Southern California Edison at a designated resource center at Jessie Turner Community Center are seen Jan. 14, 2025 (Photo by Mercedes Cannon-Tran/SCNG) “They don’t care. They’re just using the fires in LA as something to defend themselves for what is happening here,” Corona said. Two fires sparked in Los Angeles County on Jan. 7, amid a major windstorm that saw wind gusts above 80 mph. The fast-moving Eaton fire near Pasadena and the Palisades fire in Pacific Palisades has caused dozens of deaths and billions of dollars in damage. At least three lawsuits representing more than a dozen victims were filed Monday, Jan. 13, in Los Angeles County Superior Court against Edison, blaming the utility for igniting the Eaton fire, which reduced areas of Altadena to rubble and caused at least 16 deaths. The two blazes continue to burn in Los Angeles County as fire crews work to gain containment during the current red flag warning in place across Southern California. MAP: Where the major fires are burning in Los Angeles County For Justin Frogge, a longtime Bloomington resident, the power outages seem out of ordinary. “My family has lived in Bloomington for three generations, and winds have been crazy the entire time.
We’ve had an entire roof fly off before and a whole carport fly into the neighbor’s yard, and power stayed on through all of this,” Frogge said. He also has a generator to keep his refrigerator running, while he said some of his neighbors aren’t as fortunate. “One neighbor said he’s living off Jack in the Box,” Frogge said. “He said, ‘Everything in my fridge went to waste the first time. I don’t have money to replace it right now for it to just go bad again.’ So he’s going out for every meal.” He also said he’s concerned about his neighbors keeping warm at night as overnight temperatures have been dropping into the 40s and in some areas even lower. Fontana Mayor Acquanetta Warren says she has heard frustrations from many residents about the long outages. It’s affecting people in various ways including those with medical devices. “We have never had it off all so long, and we never had where so many people may have elderly family members that can’t be cold or they need their oxygen,” Warren said in an interview Tuesday. She said city staff was doing their best to accommodate and support residents but the city has no influence over the SCE shutoffs. “We’re going to do everything in our power to educate, and that’s what the city can do,” she said. “We are going to put up signage, which is going to include being prepared for windstorms.” Warren said she and city staff were looking to improve and establish better protocols for residents’ safety in the event of an emergency “There’s a lot of things that this time around that I really am going to focus on and making sure our public has the right information,” Warren said. “We need to do a better job in making sure people know where to evacuate when it’s late at night.” SCE representative Gabriela Ornelas said the utility was monitoring weather conditions and safety in the areas affected. On Wednesday afternoon, SCE’s website was reporting more than 95,000 customers in its Southern California footprint were without power, including 19,591 customers in LA County, 14,235 in Riverside County, and 32,180 in San Bernardino County. “There is a possibility for temporary restoration as long as the weather permits,” Ornelas said. “Teams are looking at how the winds are evolving if they’re changing trajectory or if they’re changing an intensity, they’re monitoring all of those details so that we can update the PSPS shutoffs and the customers under consideration.” More than 3,000 crews are working around the clock to restore power. She also said there has been damage to infrastructure because of the weather. In neighborhoods some residents may be without power, while homes as close as across the street power can be on, which Ornelas said is because of the circuit system the company operates on. Related Articles Local News | Thousands of LA County residents remain without power amid Santa Ana winds, wildfires Local News | 2 San Bernardino City Unified schools close Tuesday without power Local News | More than 300,000 people are still without power in Southern California Local News | Santa Ana winds prompt preemptive power outages to prevent wildfires Local News | Mountain fire in Ventura County grows to 14,500 acres, burning homes and causing injuries, evacuations “It is possible for customers on one circuit to be without power because their circuit is being impacted, possibly in another area, and their neighbor’s power is still on because their neighbor is served by a circuit that has not been shut off,” Ornelas said. Ornelas recommends customers visit SCE.com to find information on reimbursements or to visit a resource center. High wind warnings are still in effect for the area until at least Thursday evening, according to the National Weather Service. Those looking for SCE resource centers and additional information on current and planned outages can visit https://www.sce.com/outage-center.