Power was out in sections of the city and a fire briefly threatened a residence on Mariposa Drive when tree trimmers accidentally caused a power line to arc and come down behind several homes Monday morning. (Photo by Debbie Johnson)

Power outage and small fire

March 14, 2012
Santa Paula News

Power was out in sections of the city and a fire briefly threatened a residence on Mariposa Drive when tree trimmers accidentally caused a power line to arc and come down behind several homes Monday morning. The incident occurred March 12 at about 8:25 a.m. in the 1300 block of Mariposa Drive, according to Assistant Fire Chief Kevin Fildes, but it actually started on Manzanita Drive where tree trimmers were working. 

“Santa Paula Fire got a call for a hazard investigation for power lines down in a tree on Manzanita.” SPFD Captain Steve Lazenby said several residents told responding emergency personnel “that their lights were dim and that their appliances were not working.”

A tree trimming crew was working at the location of Grant Line and Manzanita, “and when they took their ropes they were going to use” to corral cut branches “and threw one up, when they pulled it down it caught in the power line.” Almost immediately, Fildes, said the tree trimmers saw the power line arc “and heard a transformer blow.”

According to Lazenby, “A transmission line was found to have been separated from a insulator on a pole and that information, along with the address and pole number, were transmitted” and it was also found there were lines down in the area of the alley that connects the1300 block of Mariposa and Santa Paula Ojai Rd/Highway 150. 

But the real problem occurred on nearby Mariposa Drive, where Fildes said the power line “had a bad spot” that caused the line to fall across the backyards of four homes where landscaping was set ablaze. Fildes said four engines from the SPFD and Ventura County Fire Department responded to the scene, as did Southern California Edison personnel. 

At the alley in the 1300 Block of Mariposa there was a transmission line down in the backyards of houses on the block and at Ojai Road. Lazenby said, “That line recharged/tested at least twice while we were there and the electrical explosion took down the phone and cable lines and started a fire in the trees and brush under the lines.”

Fildes noted, “Because we had multiple areas of fire and with power lines down we couldn’t get in to attack the fires at first,” but the fires were soon controlled. “There was really no damage to any homes, but some landscaping burned” in the backyards where the power line fell.  

Fildes said, “The main damage,” was to the power pole itself and the Verizon communications line that was also burned. “I am sure there are people in the area with their phones out,” said Fildes, but it was expected that only those in the immediate area of the incident would be without electrical power until later Monday afternoon.

Fildes noted that although as of press deadline Edison personnel were still on scene, SPFD and VCFD firefighters cleared the scene at 10:06 a.m.





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