Valentine's Day has come and gone, but Southern California Edison's heartfelt message to Californians is that metallic balloons still can cause power outages if not handled properly.
Helium-filled metallic balloons can drift and come in contact with high-voltage lines where electricity can arc across the balloons, cause short circuits, burn wires and interrupt service.
Resulting power outages may last from a few minutes to several hours, leading to inoperable stoplights and possible traffic problems.
SCE recommends these simple safety rules for handling metallic balloons:
- Do not attempt to retrieve a balloon – or any foreign object – tangled in power lines. Instead, call SCE at (800) 611-1911 and report the problem.
- Keep metallic balloons indoors, and never release them outside.
- Never attach metallic streamers to any balloon – latex or metallic.
- Be sure to secure a helium-filled balloon with a weight heavy enough to prevent it from drifting away and coming in contact with high-voltage lines and interrupting service. (It is unlawful to sell metallic balloons without a string weight.)
If you see a downed power line, do not approach it or touch the line or any person or object in contact with the downed line.
If you see a downed power line, call 911 and inform the operator it is an electrical emergency.
More information on metallic balloon safety can be found at www.sce.com/metallicballoons.
[An Edison International (NYSE:EIX) company, Southern California Edison is one of the nation's largest electric utilities, serving a population of nearly 14 million via 4.9 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within Central, Coastal and Southern California.]
