Power outage impacting over 3,000 customers in Desert Hot Springs
Tommy Gallegos
(Desert Hot Springs, Calif.) — Southern California Edison (SCE) crews are continuing restoration efforts in the City of Desert Hot Springs after a power outage initially impacted more than 11,000 customers in the area.
According to the utility, the outage first affected 11,224 customers in the city. As of the latest update, service has been restored to the majority of those impacted, with approximately 3,700 customers still without electricity.
SCE has established an estimated restoration time of 6:30 p.m. for the remaining affected customers.
Utility officials said their immediate priority is restoring power safely and as quickly as possible. Once electrical service has been fully restored, crews will begin investigating the cause of the outage.
“We’re focused right now on safely restoring power and then will look into the cause,” Southern California Edison said in its latest update.
Southern California Edison will continue providing updates as restoration efforts progress and additional information becomes available.
A small vegetation fire broke out today around 1:35 pm near a warehouse building in Desert Hot Springs before it was contained, according to the Riverside County Fire Department.
A transformer and downed power lines were initially believed to be involved in the fire, but crews did not encounter any signs of either matter, according to reports from the scene.
The agency said crews contained a 20-foot-by-20-foot spot of fire in less than 30 minutes.
There was no immediate word on what might have started the blaze and if it triggered the power outage.