It was a bird on a wire that knocked out power Sunday evening in a wide area of Santa Paula leaving more than 1,100 customers in the dark, some for longer than two hours.
According to Southern California Edison spokesman Robert Villegas, the July 26 incident occurred at 9:37 p.m. when the lights went out for 1,135 SCE customers.
Said Villegas, “Everyone was back up and had their lights back on at 11:41 p.m., slightly over two hours,” later.
The cause was found to be a bird on a wire, what is usually considered a common resting ground for birds. Santa Paula Fire responded to investigate the flash of fire that occurred.
“We had a bird on the overhead equipment that caused a wire to come down at Shell Road and Mission Rock Road,” west of Santa Paula in the unincorporated area.
“It was a bird on a wire, generally not an issue,” when people spot feathered friends on singular lines.
But in this and other such rare cases Villegas said, “Somehow they bridge between two lines and the electricity can spark,” using the unfortunate animal as a bridge or conduit for the jumping power.
“We’ve seen it happen to other critters” that Villegas said do not survive the jolt of electricity.
The boundaries of affected customers were north Salt Marsh Road, south Roger Road, east Peck Road and west Saticoy Avenue.
