Photo by Taylor Kay.
Click here to see a video of the scene of the fire. Video by Parnia Mazhar.
By Parnia Mazhar
Opinion Editor
The wires of a fallen transformer caused a fire to erupt today at approximately 6:50 p.m. on 11th Street and Poinsettia Avenue in Manhattan Beach.
The Manhattan Beach Fire Department was unable to tame the fire until Southern California Edison arrived. Only SEC officials have the means to work safely on the transformer’s energized power lines. Once officials arrived on scene and de-energized the transformer, the fire was extinguished within minutes, according to Manhattan Beach Fire Captain and Paramedic Scott Hafdell.
No residents were injured, and there was no serious damage from the fire, according to Hafdell. As stated by the MBFD report, the fire caused a power outage for several houses in various areas of Manhattan Beach.
“We are not sure what exactly caused the fall, but luckily the powerline did not hit anybody,” Hafdell said. “The only real damage occurred on the asphalt that the line fell on.”
According to the MBFD report, traffic lights on Blanche Road, Rosecrans Avenue and other neighboring streets were not functioning as a result of the fire. MBFD predicts that SCE will restore power to the traffic signals by 1 a.m., but the residential power outage may last for the whole night.
“It was scary at first,” MB resident Cooper Sakaguchi said. “I heard a ton of sirens, and when I went to see what was going on, all the smoke made it really hard to breathe. I hope it gets resolved as soon as possible.”
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