INDUSTRIAL CENTER AVOIDS BLACKOUTS.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Staff Writer

VALENCIA - The Valencia Industrial Center narrowly avoided two rolling blackouts Monday as power supplies fell and the temperature rose.

Temporary power shutdowns were scheduled in the Rye Canyon area at 11 a.m. and again at noon, but the state Independent Service Operator obtained additional electricity at the last minute from Canada, Southern California Edison officials said.

``We had a shortage of energy generated in the state,'' said Rudy Gonzales, region manager for Edison. ``ISO, through a combination of being able to secure power and through the cooperation of interruptible service customers, was able to avoid blackouts at this time.''

The situation was to be reviewed in the evening as commuters arrived home to sweltering houses and turned on the air conditioning. Monday's high temperature hit 92 in Santa Clarita, and more hot weather is expected through at least Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.

At the Santa Clarita Valley sheriff's station, deputies shut off the air conditioning at the request of Edison to help conserve power, Sgt. Roger Wallace said.

``It's getting pretty warm in here,'' Wallace said in the early afternoon.

Gonzales said Edison customers should be prepared for outages as long as the power crisis continues and the demand for energy is high.

``The situation is so fluid,'' he said. ``We can be banking on an outage, and a few minutes later the state can secure additional resources.''

Unrelated to the power crisis, 2,947 Edison customers briefly lost power about 7:30 a.m. when crews digging for a local water company hit a circuit near the Golden State Freeway and Valencia Boulevard. Power was restored within a minute, except to six customers who went without electricity through the afternoon, Gonzales said.