Las Vegas, NV (KXNT) - NV Energy is warning close to 500 residents on Mt. Charleston that their power might be cut off on Thursday around 1pm.
The utility says that high winds in the forecast might force them to do a pre-emptive outage to prevent a possible wildfire starting from downed power lines. A similar move was done due to high winds a couple of weeks ago.
Originally, the outage was to have begun around 6pm Wednesday night. Then it was planned for Thursday morning at 9. The utility continued to move the planned outage time based on the most recent weather forecasts. If the power is cut, it's expected to be restored late Friday morning. Affected residents have been notified.
NV Energy will shut off power when certain environmental conditions are met and an evaluation of risk is done with guidance from local emergency management teams and other stakeholders. This helps prevent power lines, things that are blown into power lines, and other equipment from causing a wildfire.