Simi Sets Another Heat Record at 107

It was another record-breaking day of heat in Simi Valley, where the mercury rose to 107 degrees Tuesday and broke a record of 104 set in 1987.

Simi has been endured scorching heat since Saturday, topping or matching high temperature records each day. A countywide heat advisory that began Saturday remains in effect through today.

“I don’t think it can get much hotter, but we’re not going to have too much of a break,” said meteorologist Bruce Rockwell of the National Weather Service.

Ventura County’s coastal areas will be in the high 80s and low 90s today and Thursday, and the mercury for inland cities should climb into the 100s again, Rockwell said.

It was 90 in Ventura on Tuesday and 89 in Oxnard. It reached 104 in Ojai and 109 in Thousand Oaks. It was a relatively comfortable 81 at Point Mugu.

Air conditioners across the county have been running full blast around the clock, creating havoc for Southern California Edison workers who have replaced 67 transformers since Saturday, according to Mike Montoya, a regional manager.

About 500 Edison customers in Ojai, Ventura, Camarillo and Fillmore were affected when 12 transformers blew between Saturday and Tuesday. Power was restored for most customers within three hours, but a few Ojai customers went 17 hours without power on Saturday and Sunday, Montoya said.

In the eastern part of the county, more than 1,000 customers in Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks and Westlake Village endured brownouts between Saturday and Tuesday before Edison replaced 55 transformers.

As of Tuesday night, 63 customers throughout the county were still without power. Some had been powerless two or three hours and others had gone 10 or 15 hours, Montoya said. Power was expected to be restored by midnight Tuesday.

Montoya urged customers to cut their consumption of air conditioning at night and use fans instead.

“We have the same potential to have transformers fail” with the ongoing heat, he said.

At the district offices of the Ojai Unified School District, the air conditioning, phones and computers were drawing so much power Monday that a transformer blew. After Edison workers spliced the wires back together, a power surge Tuesday morning knocked out the district’s systems again.

With the start of school in Ojai just around the corner, Supt. Gwen Gross said being without key equipment until 1:30 p.m. Tuesday was a hassle.

“We could call out but no one could call in,” Gross said. “Right before school, it’s remarkable how dependent we’ve become on our communications with our schools.”

Gross said the power surge appears to have damaged several television and videocassette recorders in one of the district’s schools.