Glendale Power Outage Blamed on Work Crew

Operator error was identified this week as the cause of a line failure that left the entire city of Glendale without electricity for more than an hour Friday.

Ed Freudenburg, spokesman for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said Tuesday that an inquiry concluded that a mistake was made by a two-man crew testing one of the two lines that carry electricity to Glendale through the Air Way substation near San Fernando Road.

The precise nature of the mistake was still unknown.

Freudenburg said it had not been determined whether the error was due to a failure in communication, poor judgment or a deficiency in procedures.

“We are looking at what procedures they followed or did not follow and whether our procedures are correct,” he said.

Electricity purchased by Glendale from suppliers outside the area comes to the city over DWP lines. The connection is made by two 230,000-volt lines in the Air Way substation, either capable of carrying the entire load.

Controls for the circuit-breaking equipment for the two lines are in one location, said Marcy Lopez, a system engineer. Lopez said the two workers had one line turned off for testing when they inadvertently opened a relay controlling the other line, which stopped the flow of electricity.