Lights Go Out After Balloons Sink to Earth

A midday power outage hit nearly 11,000 homes and offices Monday, leaving office workers trapped in elevators, confused motorists flooding the police station with calls and employees in windowless government buildings standing in the dark.

Southern California Edison officials blamed the blackout on a cluster of Mylar balloons that drifted into a company substation and became entangled on conductors of a transformer. The downtown area, including the Civic Center, was without power for about an hour.

No one was injured, but many people, like Lupe Reyes Lopez, were plenty frustrated.

Lopez was among four people stuck in an elevator for more than an hour. They were on their way to the State Franchise Tax Board office at 600 W. Santa Ana Blvd.

The elevator had just lifted from the ground floor when it stopped. Lopez, who is 76 and has a heart condition, said she was growing increasingly anxious about her health, but a security guard on the elevator helped reassure her.

“I tried to keep calm, waiting, waiting,” she said.

Edison officials said the power outage lasted from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. in an area bounded on the north by Garden Grove Boulevard and Memory Lane, the east by Main Street, the south by Edinger Avenue and the west by Harbor Boulevard. At some government buildings with backup generators, such as the Orange County coroner’s office and Santa Ana police headquarters, the blackout lasted only a few minutes, officials said.

Edison officials said they did not know to whom the bright, painted balloons belonged or what they were being used for.

“We’ve had problems with [Mylar balloons] before,” said Ron Ferree, operation center superintendent for Southern California Edison. “But not to the extent of Monday’s incident, which happened at a substation that feeds into other substations and critical loads.”

Employees at businesses and government offices sat waiting for their computers and phones to start working. Some downtown drivers were baffled by traffic lights that didn’t work.

“There was some confusion,” said Sgt. Dick Faust, who was among those fielding calls from disoriented motorists.

The department sent about 40 police officers with hand-held stop signs to direct traffic. “We sent every officer available out there and we got through it,” Faust said. “It was inconvenient for a while but that was about it.”

A mother and her young son were trapped in an elevator at an apartment complex in the 1100 block of Santa Ana Boulevard, city firefighters said. Rescuers were able to lower the elevator to the first floor and open the door within 15 minutes, said Fire Capt. Bill McCoy. The mother and her son--still in his stroller--were not injured, McCoy said.

Firefighters also were summoned to an apartment building in the 300 block of West 2nd Street, where they made an elevator rescue.

Other buildings affected by the midday blackout included the federal and county courthouses, City Hall and Rancho Santiago College, some of which had reserve power supplies.

At the college, where sunlight kept afternoon lectures going, some students were hoping that the outage would last through the day and force school officials to cancel night classes. But electricity was restored long before the sun went down.

“Other than it being a little warm and stuffy in some places, we kept on rolling,” said Patti Cole, a spokeswoman for the school.