Cooled-Down Orange County Still Sizzling

Orange County cooled down Monday, but not everyone noticed.

Temperatures that fell 8 degrees from Sunday’s record 110-degree high in San Juan Capistrano still left the south county city at a sweltering 102 degrees. Neighboring San Clemente had an unofficial county high Monday of 103. Santa Ana reached 102, dropping 6 degrees from Sunday’s record-break ing temperatures.

And, as Orange County turned on air conditioners and fans, the demand for power was occasionally too much for the utilities to handle. Hundreds of residents remained without electricity Monday evening after losing power Sunday.

Forecasters predicted further cooling today, with temperatures dropping into the mid- to high 90s.

“It looks, for the next couple of days, like it will be gradually cooler--on the average 5 or 6 degrees cooler each day,” said David Beusterien, meteorologist for WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times. “You’ll probably see a 5-degree drop (today).”

By Wednesday, he said, “it will be in the low 70s near the beaches (and) the low 90s inland.”

Firefighters fought blazes in Orange County and elsewhere in the Southland. The county’s most serious brush fire, which had blackened 2,384 acres near Ortega Highway in San Juan Capistrano, was fully contained Monday afternoon, and fire officials expected to declare the blaze extinguished this morning.

The siege of searing temperatures put an extraordinary demand on electricity Monday, utility officials said. Southern California Edison reported that 1,000 customers were without power again Monday--mostly in central and northern Orange County--as overburdened transformers blew fuses. An equal number of customers also were in the dark Sunday.

“We’ve called in more than 200 employees from Bishop, Vacaville and the San Joaquin Valley to respond to this triple-digit heat wave here,” said Roger Faubel, an Edison spokesman. “We really have marshaled all of our resources.”

Transformers Damaged

Power should be restored to most customers by this morning, Faubel said. He said crews would work into Monday night to repair 158 damaged transformers.

As Bob Francis of Yorba Linda waited for power to be restored to his family’s new home, he took advantage of somebody else’s air conditioning.

“I keep going to Builders Emporium (hardware store) to get cool,” Francis said, laughing. “They give me funny looks. I buy a screw now and again.”

By Monday afternoon, his house had been without electricity for 24 hours. Dry ice in the refrigerator was keeping some perishables cold, he said, but not much.

By 5 p.m., Francis said, he finally had found a friend with an air conditioner. He promptly invited himself and his family over for a visit.

In Anaheim, about 300 homes had been without power since Sunday afternoon, said Ed Davis, a dispatcher for the Anaheim Utilities Department, the electrical supplier for the city.

Power Overload

Lightning storms hammered the west side of the city Saturday, knocking out two circuits. And the heat led to increased power use, disabling and overloading transformers, Davis said.

“We kind of took a double shot,” he said. “But we hope to have everybody on at least by noon Tuesday.”

The scorching inland heat worked much like a broom Monday, sweeping record Labor Day crowds to the beaches.

“This is our biggest day (ever),” said Gordon Reed, a lifeguard at Newport Beach. “With the heat we’ve had though, we were going to get a record crowd.” An estimated 145,000 sun worshipers parked belly up or down on the sands Monday, Reed said.

Temperatures on the beach hit a balmy 82, with the water a relatively chilly 65, Reed said.

In Huntington Beach, about 100,000 people crowded together in the sand and surf, said marine safety officer Kai Weisser. “We had a heavy crowd,” Weisser said, adding that lifeguards treated a handful of heat exhaustion cases.

Many sought refuge Monday at Wild Rivers, a water theme park in Irvine, and in shopping malls.

Pools Filled

“We could not fit another person in the park right now,” said Greg Briggs, the Wild Rivers general manager. “All the pools are filled. Even the pygmy pond is just packed. Like it’s a big bathtub.”

Others headed to the air-conditioned shopping mecca of South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa. “It is packed,” said Rick Chilcott, store manager for Nordstrom. “I’m sure the weather has contributed. Everyone’s in shorts and tank tops.”

Los Angeles on Monday experienced its third successive day of 100-degree-plus readings.

Monday’s high of 102 was 3 degrees shy of the record for Sept. 5 in downtown Los Angeles, set in 1984. Temperatures reached 107 in Monrovia, 103 in Long Beach and 102 in Burbank. It was cooler at recording stations near the ocean, with a high of 95 at Los Angeles International Airport.

Lifeguards reported another day of huge crowds and bumper-to-bumper traffic as residents stormed the beaches. At midday, the California Highway Patrol declared a SigAlert on the Santa Monica Freeway heading to the beaches.

Times staff writer David Ferrell contributed to this story from Los Angeles.