Southern California Edison (SCE) has dispatched crews and equipment throughout the region to respond to strong Santa Ana winds that might affect the power system.

The National Weather Service issued Red Flag warnings for Los Angeles, Ventura, San Bernardino, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, Kern and Tulare counties which will be in effect from 10 a.m. Thursday to 10 p.m. Friday.

About 68,000 customers in high fire risk areas have been notified of possible power shutoffs in the event extreme winds create a threat to public safety. No power has been turned off at this time.

Because of the potentially dangerous winds, customers, government officials, emergency management agencies and fire chiefs have been notified that portions of these communities could be affected by a power shutoff:

Agoura Hills, Altadena, Canyon Country, Castaic, Chatsworth, Cowan Heights, Fillmore, Fontana, Irvine, Lake Forest, Lytle Creek, Malibu, Mission Viejo, Moorpark, Newhall, North Tustin, Orange, Pasadena, Phelan, Piru, Rancho Cucamonga, Rancho Santa Margarita, Rialto, Robinson Ranch, San Bernardino, San Fernando, Santa Clarita, Santa Paula, Saugus, Simi Valley, Silverado Canyon, Somis, Sylmar, Trabuco Canyon, Valencia and Villa Park.

“We will only turn off the power under the most extreme weather conditions as a preemptive measure to reduce the risk of a power line being involved in starting a fire,” said SCE Incident Commander Steve Powell. “We appreciate our customers’ patience and understanding as we safely work to restore power in impacted communities.”

SCE’s staff meteorologists are using enhanced state-of-the-art software with a high-resolution weather model that can now forecast weather conditions down to a third of a mile area to help pinpoint the areas that might be affected by extreme winds.

General weather-related outages due to high winds are common. SCE personnel have been mobilized and are now on alert to respond to these outages.

During red flag conditions, circuits in high fire risk areas that become de-energized for any reason will not be automatically returned to service. This is not a Public Safety Power Shutoff; it is simply a safety feature to help mitigate wildfire risk. Before these lines can be re-energized they require on-site inspections, which may increase service restoration times for our customers.

Customers whose contact information is on file with SCE will receive alerts by phone, text or email of any power shutoffs. They should make sure their contact information is correct by going to their account at sce.com under “Profile” or by calling 800-655-4555.

To see the latest information about outages, go to sce.com/outages or visit twitter.com/sce and facebook.com/sce. Customers can also report or inquire about outages at 800-611-1911.