LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The wildfires near Santa Barbara, California, continued on Thursday to be a threat to 230-kilovolt transmission lines owned by Southern California Edison after causing about 100,000 customers to lose power on Wednesday night, the California Independent System Operator said.
On Wednesday evening at around 7:15 p.m. local time, SCEde-energized the 230-kilovolt line near Galeta, which is nearSanta Barbara, due to smoke contamination, said StephanieMcCorkle of the Cal ISO, which operates the state power gridfor the utilities like SCE that own the lines.
Flames were not burning into the lines but the smoke causedthe line to relay in and out of service, causing about 100,000to lose service in the Santa Barbara area, but power was backonline later Wednesday night, McCorkle said.
(Reporting by Bernie Woodall; Editing by ChristianWiessner)
