If you noticed something in the sky over Circle J Ranch over the past couple of weeks, it’s possible it wasn’t a bird or a plane: It might have just been Southern California Edison.
A spokeswoman for the public utility, which held an outreach meeting in the fall to talk about some of its upcoming work in the area, confirmed that SCE was performing scheduled equipment maintenance that involved helicopters and dangling lines.
Having also shared a video of what SCE calls “a noisy ballet” of power restoration, workers are expected to be performing the aerial work until next week.
“This is a scheduled pole-replacement project taking place between Railroad Avenue and Circle J Ranch Road,” according to an email from Diane Castro, a senior adviser of media relations for SCE. “As part of the work, a helicopter is being used to transport crews, tools and equipment to four pole locations. The project is currently expected to be completed by Dec. 16.”
The utility replaces approximately 30,000 poles each year, with new poles meeting “new and enhanced design and construction standards,” she said.
She wrote that it was part of a grid-modernization effort. The utility is also installing equipment and device configurations such as fast-acting fuses that can react more quickly to reduce fire risk. She added that “secure communications between grid operations and devices in the field will allow the grid to respond almost instantaneously to faults on the lines.”
