Thousands without power as Santa Ana winds bring increased fire risk for Southern California

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Power to tens of thousands of people had been shut off by Monday night as utilities worked to mitigate the impacts of Southern California’s notorious Santa Ana winds, whose strong gusts could damage electrical equipment and spark wildfires. The National Weather Service has issued a rare “particularly dangerous situation,” or PDS, red flag warning for high fire risk starting Monday night and into Tuesday for Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Nearly 42,000 customers lost power in San Diego County, with utilities saying more outages will likely be coming. Southern California Edison had said it was considering targeted power shut-offs for more than 250,000 homes and businesses across seven counties starting Monday evening.