LA planning inevitable widespread power shutdown as dangerous winds expected to reappear over weekend

The city of Los Angeles is planning a widespread power shutdown before the dangerous Santa Ana winds are expected to ramp up over the weekend, fire officials warned.“Please understand that the inevitable public safety power shut-offs that will be implemented prior to this life-threatening Santa Ana wind event are crucial to preventing new fire starts, and that they help save lives,” Fire Chief Anthony Marrone warned Saturday.“Yes, they’re a challenge to deal with, but it’s certainly better than having another fire start.”The strong and arid Santa Ana winds are predicted to pick up Saturday evening after experiencing a brief respite earlier in the day.The dangerous Santa Anta winds dropped to as low as 15 mph during the day, but are expected to whip back up to a high of 50 mph in the evening, with a few reaching heights of 70 mph in the San Gabriel, Santa Susana and western Santa Monica Mountains, according to the FOX Forecast Center.The winds, combined with low humidities and low moisture, will keep the fire threat throughout Los Angeles and Ventura counties high.The worst of the winds are expected to slam the southern California region Monday night into Tuesday and last through Wednesday.Any planned power shutdowns would be unrelated to the power outage already plaguing Los Angeles — as of Saturday evening, roughly 50,000 residents were without power, according to Steve Powell, president and CEO of Southern California Edison.That figure is down from the staggering 500,000-plus left in the dark earlier this week.As of Saturday, the southern California wildfires had claimed at least 13 lives.At least 153,000 residents have been forced to evacuate their homes in Southern California as wildfires continue to rage across the Pacific Palisades and surrounding areas....