The possibility that a line of inactive and unconnected transmission of southern California Edison is somehow set up on January 7 is “a leading hypothesis” for what has started the destructive Fire Eaton, the International Director of Edison, Pedro Pizarro said on Friday.
In response, Edison will take measures to tighten other tricks to slow motion and lines through his network to avoid invigination incidents. These measures include carrying out additional inspections in the field, the revision of past inspections and making it changes in an internal maintenance manual that teaches teams on how to implement the inactive equipment correctly.
In an interview on Friday with The Times, Pizarro said that the measures were withdrawn from “an abundance of prudence”. He also pointed out that the company always explores all the possibilities in what caused the fire. However, current evidence – including videos and line data – suggest the possibility that the inactive equipment has been revitalized by a phenomenon called induction and triggered hell 7 January.
“Induction seems to be a key thing to look at here because the inactive line was not connected to any equipment,” said Pizarro. “He had no direct power source. It was like an extension cord on your floor, not connected to the wall. ”
Induction occurs when the magnetic field of another active line nearby induces an electric current in the unconnected line. It is considered rare, but has been raised as a possibility by lawyers who have since been prosecuted Edison on behalf of the residents who have lost their house in the fire.
Now, usefulness explores it as a theory of the principal and also ensuring that similar inactive equipment is properly put to the ground, so that sudden overvoltages can be securely dissipated in the earth.
“We have to look at everything,” said Pizarro. “Since there was a video of the flashing and fire starting apparently around the inactive transmission tower, and since this line it was holding was linked to nothing, so induction becomes a leading hypothesis.”
Edison reported to the State Regulatory Commission that four of its lines on Eaton Canyon had seen a momentary vague electric current roughly at the same time when the fire fled. In the file, the officials noted that the current increase “remained within the design limits” of its circuits.
“At the start, we do not think there were points to connect here because we had protected equipment on all our transmission lines,” said Pizarro.
But the video showing the initial flames of the fire seemed to be ignited under the inactive tower raised serious concerns and prompted the company to take additional measures.
As a precaution, said Pizarro, the giant public service company has revised an internal manual that describes the way in which the inactive equipment must be put to the ground.
At least one trial brought against SCE included photos of the tower with four feet of exposed landfilling hole from the steep hill.
The manual changes were noted in a file with state regulators on February 6. Edison had refused to provide Los Angeles Times with a copy of changes or to provide details for weeks, saying that it was an internal document. California Public Utilities Commission also rejected a request for public Times to disclose information.
Friday, the company shared the revised section of the manual, which, according to the officials, indicated that the equipment of inactive Edison must be put to the ground.
Rajdeep Roy, Vice-President of Edison Transmission and Subject Operations, told Times that the revision came after the fires of January 7, and it was the only change made at the time.
Before the revision, the earth procedures were determined by the engineers at the time when the equipment has become inactive, he said. Earth procedures were based on a case -by -case basis due to equipment, land and surrounding lines.
Friday, the new policies, examined by the Times, provide specifications for the equipment, including the type of earthing wire to be used and the number of bolts required depending on the type of structure. It also differentiates the required land for wood, light steel posts and trellis towers like those examined in the Canyon Eaton.
It also requires an earthing every three miles of idle lines, in sections less than 600 feet of an inactive line of 220 kV or 500 kV.
“When you look through industry, there is no very clear common standard for what you do with an inactive line,” said Pizarro.
Edison examines whether manual modifications will force the company to install an additional grounding of inactivity lines or to modify the grounding equipment, said Pizarro.
He also said that crews carried out inactive equipment inspections and carried out “office inspections” – an examination of the photographs taken during previous equipment visits to check the potentially neglected problems.
“You have people who raise all types of the theories from the outside of the company, and that simply raises questions to say:” Let us throw another glance “,” said Pizarro.
California Daily Newspapers
