Amber Willard
MAGNOLIA PARK -- About 1,000 homes and businesses lost power and five
traffic signals were knocked out of operation Friday morning when a
Burbank man fell asleep while driving and crashed into a utility pole,
authorities said.
The 34-year-old driver was not injured and power was restored in about
two hours, police said.
A dozen police officers and fire and public service officials
responded just after 7:30 a.m. when the unidentified driver, who was
traveling northbound in the 600 block of Buena Vista Street, struck a
parked car and hit the cedar utility pole, police said.
The pole's base landed in a nearby yard and the rest was left dangling
from the overhead wires, Sgt. Ron Caruso said.
The accident cut off power to signals along Magnolia Boulevard at the
intersections of Cordova, California, Catalina and Buena Vista streets,
as well as the intersection of Buena Vista and Clark Avenue, Caruso said.
Power to the signals was restored about 8:45 a.m.
Power to more than 850 nearby homes and 150 businesses was out for
about 2 hours, said Ron Davis, general manager of Burbank's Public
Service Department.
The pole belongs to Edison International but the city had some
low-voltage lines attached to it, Davis said. Public Service workers
rerouted power running through the lines until the pole could be
replaced.
The man who drove into the pole was pulling a trailer behind his Ford
Bronco. He was wearing his seat belt and was not injured, Caruso said.
There was no evidence that he was speeding at the time of the accident,
he said.
