Raccoon Blamed for Power Outages

The spectacular transformer explosions that lit up the Saturday sky like a fireworks display by a grand impresario actually were the work of a lowly raccoon.

The explosions, which left more than 5,800 Culver City residents without power for up to four hours, occurred when a raccoon climbed a power pole and took one step too many, said Southern California Edison spokesman Paul Klein.

“The raccoon got up into a pole switch on a 16,000-volt line,” Klein said, explaining that pole switches control the voltage and distribution of electricity on the poles.

The raccoon’s encounter with that pole switch caused a “burnout,” Klein said. “The 16,000-volt line burned and then fell into a 4,000-volt line. Then there was a voltage surge, which caused the explosions.”

While such raccoon-caused disruptions have happened before, they are fairly uncommon, Klein said.

The explosions erupted about 9:30 p.m. at transformers located at Overland Avenue and Farragut Drive, disabling traffic signals in a 10-block area and causing power surges that stalled elevators and caused other electrical disturbances, officials said. One motorist on Overland when the explosions occurred described “sparks that flew sky-high from the horizon” and said “the whole sky was lit up.”

The raccoon, Klein said, did not live to see the show.