Crime & Safety
UPDATE: Balloons Cause Westwood High-Rise Power Outage
The power goes out early Saturday morning at a condo tower on W. Wilshire Boulevard.
Shiny, metallic Mylar balloons floating in the skies of Westwood Saturday got hung up in some electrical wires and caused a power outage, temporarily leaving some people stuck in the elevators of at least one high rise building.
"People let them go and they float into the air -- they get stuck in the wires and cause outages. We've people asking for years to stop using them," said MaryAnne Pierson of the Department of Water and Power.
The outage was reported to Department of Water and Power at 9:48 a.m., Pierson said, and power was fully restored by 10:38 a.m.
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Firefighters were dispatched at 9:48 a.m. to a 25-story condominium tower on W. Wilshire Boulevard, where people were stuck in some of the elevators, said Erik Scott of the Los Angeles City Fire Department. They had to be rescued by firefighters.
No injuries were reported, Scott said.
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Power flickered in office buildings several miles from the outage, and some traffic lights began blinking red before they were reset, according to police radio broadcasts.
—Patch editor Meredith Skrzypczak contributed to this report.
