2 Outages Cut Electricity to 3,400 Customers

Two power outages left more than 3,400 Edison customers in the dark for up to 90 minutes Wednesday in Casitas Springs and Camarillo, authorities said.

The more widespread of the two occurred at 1:36 p.m. when a moving van loaded with 3,000 pounds of household items rear-ended a car going south on Las Posas Road at Pleasant Valley Road, according to sheriff’s officials.

After jackknifing, the van sheared off a wooden pole supporting a 16,000-volt power line, according to Southern California Edison technician Steve Torres.

The driver of the van, Darrin Cloar of Hawthorne, and his passenger, Jay Dietlin of Torrance, both escaped injury.

Dietlin, 37, said the crash occurred when the car made an abrupt stop.

“We rear-ended him and then we hit the pole,” he said.

The driver of the car, Jose Garcia Gomez, 24, of Oxnard, was not injured.

A man in the passenger seat, Jose Arrealo, 19, of Oxnard, was taken by ambulance to St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo after complaining of neck pain, authorities said.

A second passenger, Federico Vega, was also taken to St. John’s Pleasant Valley with cuts to his face and neck pain, authorities said.

About 3,100 customers in the surrounding area were without electricity for about 20 minutes after the crash. Ten others were expected to have their power restored late Wednesday.

Earlier Wednesday, a bird was blamed for short-circuiting a 16,000-volt line along Casitas Vista Road in Casitas Springs, knocking out power for about 1 1/2 hours to more than 300 customers, according to Edison officials.

The 8:30 a.m. short caused the power line to snap, sending several lines crashing onto four houses in the 1000 block of Casitas Vista Road.

No one was injured, but the downed power lines caused a scare among residents.

“It sounded to me like two old oak trees coming down,” said Bill Blackburn, 46, who was inside his home when the lines crashed in front of his property.

Lorraine Lovato was sitting at her dining room table when she looked outside and saw her cats jump straight up in the air.

“I didn’t hear the sound so much. I just saw my cats going crazy,” she said.

Then she noticed what looked like daytime fireworks as live power lines arced on the ground in her frontyard.

“Too bad this didn’t happen at night,” Lovato said. “There were sparks everywhere. I don’t know why there wasn’t a fire.”

In all, 20 people were told to leave their homes while crews made sure that the downed lines were not live, county Fire Capt. Chris Mahon said.

“Our main concern was the safety of the residents. We evacuated them because these lines will automatically re-energize,” he said.

The downed lines eventually went dead and power was rerouted while repairs were made, Edison officials said.

Correspondents Chris Chi and Richard Warchol contributed to this story.