Power Lines Hit Vehicles on Freeway

Three 4,800-volt power lines were knocked loose by a construction crane and fell on the Ventura Freeway in Sherman Oaks on Friday, the Department of Water and Power reported, shattering a pickup truck’s windshield and burning through its body.

Three other vehicles received lesser damage, the California Highway Patrol said.

The driver of the truck, Robert E. Toscano, 59, of Upland, said he could see the falling wires coming as he headed west on the freeway near Kester Avenue, but did not brake because he was afraid of being struck from the rear by other traffic.

“I just held the steering wheel and closed my eyes because I knew it would shatter the windshield,” he said.

Toscano and his son, Pete, 30, escaped with a few scratches.

One cable struck the windshield, shattering it, and the broken cable, shooting electric sparks, hit the aluminum side of the truck body and burned a hole through it, Robert Toscano said.

Lucia Alvelais, a DWP spokeswoman, said a construction crew operating a crane near the power lines “was working on some freeway lights and didn’t see the wires when they were moving the crane.”

Power to 800 houses in the area was interrupted for about an hour and a half after the 10 a.m. accident. Three of the four eastbound freeway lanes were closed for 30 minutes while DWP workers removed the fallen lines, the California Highway Patrol said.