Balloons knock out power for more than 6,500 in South SLO County
Update 4:45 p.m.:
Power has been restored to all but 18 customers, PG&E spokesman Mark Mesesan said Friday afternoon.
According to Mesesan, the outage was caused by metallic balloons that short-circuited and brought down an electric wire.
“This not only is inconvenient for our customers who lost power; it’s also extremely dangerous,” he wrote in an email to The Tribune.
PG&E is reminding customers to always use caution and avoid celebrating with metallic balloons near overhead electric lines, because the balloons can knock out power to entire neighborhoods if they become entangled in the wires.
To prevent this, PG&E also advised people to make sure helium-filled metallic balloons are securely tied to a weight that is heavy enough to prevent them from floating away. Never release metallic balloons outside.
If a balloon becomes caught in a power line, you are advised to leave it along and contact PG&E to report the problem.
Original story:
A power outage knocked out electricity to more than 6,500 customers in southern San Luis Obispo County on Friday.
According to PG&E, 6,512 customers are without power. The outage stretches between Oceano and northern Pismo Beach.
PG&E is currently investigating the cause of the outage. Power cut around 2:24 p.m., according to PG&E.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
This story was originally published March 20, 2020 at 3:42 PM.
%20Cropped.jpg)