REDLANDS OUTAGES: 'Cause Was Equipment Failure' According to Edison

Equipment failure on a transmission line caused some of the outages Tuesday night in Redlands that left hundreds in the dark and put Loma Linda University Medical Center on generators, according to Southern California Edison.

Outages were reported between 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Sept. 11 and firefighters saw a flash near the Mountain View power station that was , Redlands Fire Chief Jeff Frazier said.

"The cause of the outage was due to equipment failure," Edison spokeswoman Nancy Rodriguez Casanova said Wednesday in an email. "The piece of equipment that failed was an overhead cable so it's possible that a flash or a surge could have occurred; however no Southern California Edison crews saw a flash. There were no fires or injuries reported."

Loma Linda University Medical Center, Behavorial Medicine Center and Heart and Surgical Hospital were all without Edison power from about 8:10 p.m. Tuesday to 3 a.m. Wednesday, hospital spokesman Herbert Atienza said.

The medical facilities "had to rely on power from our generators during that time," Atienza said. "We are a customer of Southern California Edison, but we do have our own power generators for use in emergencies just like this. All the back-up systems worked and patient care was never compromised."

At the outset of the first transmission line problem, there were flickering lights about 8 p.m., with 17, 237 customers affected in Redlands, San Bernardino, Highland, Yucaipa, Calimesa, Colton and Loma Linda, Rodriguez Casanova said. Equipment repairs were continuing on the problem Wednesday.

A second transmission line outage began at 8:22 p.m., affecting 23,197 in Redlands, San Bernardino, Highland, Yucaipa, Calimesa, Colton and Loma Linda, Rodriguez Casanova said.

"Some customers had power restored at 8:27 p.m., with service restored to all customers at 9:10 p.m.," Rodriguez Casanova said.

All repairs on the equipment failure that caused the second outage were complete as of Wednesday afternoon, according to Edison.

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