Downed Power Lines at Motel
updated: May 26, 2012, 10:03 AM

By the Urban Hikers (Stacey Wright and Peter Hartmann)

As reported by Roger the Scanner Guy, at 4:20 on the Friday afternoon, high winds caused a high- voltage power line at Yanonali and Bath Streets to snap. Frighteningly, the wire landed inside a pool enclosure at the Lavender Inn, while motel guests were sunning themselves poolside. This is ironic to us, UH, because it was just two weeks ago that we reported on another power line down - only half a block away.

According to John Dowling, a UCSB grad who is visiting town this Memorial Day weekend from San Francisco, this is what happened: while sunning poolside, John and two other guests heard a loud "pop", followed by the crashing of the live high-voltage line into the pool area of their motel. John and his friend collected their things to leave. The companion of the remaining sun seeking motel guest apparently heard the sound and came out of his nearby room to investigate. After making an initial assessment of the newly fallen wire, the man told the others at the pool that the wire was't live. And prove his point, he touched the wire. Luckily he was right. Nevertheless, just to be on the safe side, John and his friend left the pool area. On the other hand, the "electrician" and his companion took advantage of the the poolside serenity and stayed to nap and sunbathe.

Within minutes, SBFD firefighters arrived to assess the situation and immediately contacted Southern California Edison. Edison crews were on scene shortly thereafter to be certain that the downed wire was not a threat. Despite the "electrician's" confidence, the fact of the matter is that he was extremely fortunate. According to firefighters, after a wire comes down, the central computer at SCE automatically tries to restore electricity to the line. So, what looks like a "dead" wire can actually be dead only momentarily, and may in fact become "live" again. This is one of the reasons firefighters use extreme caution around downed lines and urge others to do so as well. Again, as a public service, we'd like to remind readers that a downed high-voltage power line can spontaneously being to "dance", and in doing so can travel several feet. That's why it's a good idea to have a telephoto lens on your camera.

We know Roger was worried about the health and safety of the motel guests, believing that someone may have been in the pool at the time of the incident. Luckily, that wasn't the case, and no one was injured in what could have been a really awful situation.

Due to the potential hazard, Edison cut power to the involved lines, as the "electrician" and his companion continued to tan restfully.

Power has been out in the vicinity of the motel and is not expected to be restored for another 12 -24 hours. Hopefully everyone in the area has stocked up on charcoal and ice and the Memorial Day weekend festivities, and won't be be too disrupted by the power outage.

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