Why Does It Take So Long to Get Power Back Up?

At 4:56 pm, I was at City Hall posting a story about the Garden Club when I got a text from my son that the power was back on at my house.  At about 5:01, I heard sirens leaving the fire station next door. A minute later, a city staffer who knows where I live came in and said “that fire call was for Lima and Montecito if you’re interested.”  I put two and two together.  Ran home, and sure enough, after the power was switched on, a neighbor noticed sparks flying out of a transformer at the corner (probably because his back porch light was blinking on and off).  So I shot some video to show you what it’s like. 

As careful as they are trying to be to prevent stuff like this happening before power gets turned on, it still happens.  Be patient.  It’s better to take a little longer to get things going, then to get them going and have fires start because they rushed it through.