KERNVILLE, Calif. (KERO) — Residents and business owners in Kernville are struggling to manage repeated public safety power shut-offs that they say are devastating the local economy and putting vulnerable community members at risk.
Bob Morris, who owns Buzzard Gulch Trading Post in Kernville, said his business and many others rely on tourism during the summer months.
"And the community is pretty devastated over these power shut-offs due to the basic loss of income for businesses," Morris said.
"Several people have come in and have said they're not going to come up anymore as long as this is going on, because either if they're in campgrounds or hotels and the power goes out, it's a miserable experience for them," Morris said.
Catherine Crawford, who owns Natural Health, said the power was shut off last week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
"Well, besides the large impact on the businesses, the whole community is being affected, a lot of the seniors, they don't have the money to have generators, their homes get too hot, they're going into 80s and 90 degrees in their homes," Crawford said.
Southern California Edison said the power shut-offs are a vital tool they use to keep the public safe during wildfire season. The company says they have a team of wildfire experts and meteorologists who take into consideration how dry an area is and monitor wind speeds.
"And when we do see an increased risk of wildfire, we do shut off power in those areas experiencing the most several conditions to prevent a potential wildfire associated with electric equipment," said Gabriela Ornelas, spokesperson for Southern California Edison.
Ornelas said the company continues to take steps to mitigate the use of power shut-offs by upgrading its electrical equipment, including adding coded wiring to make power lines more resilient.
"Our priority is safety, we can't compromise on that, so public safety power shut-offs will remain a tool, an important tool of public safety," Ornelas said.
Kernville residents said they have repeatedly tried to have an Edison representative come and meet with them to be transparent and answer their questions.
"Nothing is making sense, and why are they not alternating it between the different areas that are windier than us sometimes?" Crawford said.
Ornelas said they do hold community meetings in Kern County, but for the residents I spoke with, that is not enough.
"We need more, we need answers, if they can justify as to why they're doing this, and rationale appears appropriate, we can probably deal with that, but right now we have nothing," Morris said.
"We as a community, we'll get together, I have hundreds of people that will be at the meeting to voice their concerns and hear the truth and find the facts, that's what we're after, we're after the facts," Crawford said.
If you would like to learn more about when and where SCE will be holding community meetings, click here.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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