Morgan Hill
– A faulty piece of PG
&
amp;E equipment caused a fire that threatened a mushroom growing
operation Tuesday night and knocked out power to hundreds of Morgan
Hill residents.
About 1,773 customers
– both homes and businesses – lost power at 7:15pm, according to
Jeff Smith, a PG
&
amp;E spokesman
Morgan Hill – A faulty piece of PG&E equipment caused a fire that threatened a mushroom growing operation Tuesday night and knocked out power to hundreds of Morgan Hill residents.
About 1,773 customers – both homes and businesses – lost power at 7:15pm, according to Jeff Smith, a PG&E spokesman.
Residents and customers were without lights, air conditioning or electric fans until 10:15pm, he said.
Smith said he wasn’t sure whether the equipment was a transformer or a switch, but agreed there was definitely a malfunction. He did not know about the fire.
The incident occurred at Calle Enrique and Watsonville Road and affected electrical service on Monterey Road through downtown, including the Vineyard Town Center and Tennant Station Center across the street.
Oddly enough, while the power outage began at 7:15pm, the fire near the troubled PG&E equipment wasn’t reported until 7:45.
“The fire probably smoldered all that time before somebody noticed it and called it in,” said Don Jarvis, battalion chief at Santa Clara County Fire Department’s El Toro Station.
Both local fire departments turned out in a full response to keep the fire contained to a brushy area between the street and Royal Oaks Mushrooms, 15480 Watsonville Road.
Fire Captain Darren McMillen of South Santa Clara County Fire Department said it took firefighters about 10 minutes to extinguish the blaze.
The outage also shut down Cinelux Theatres during the evening movie showing and, for a time, Rosso’s Furniture Store, both in Tennant Station.
Las Palmas Mexican Restaurant in Vineyard Town Center had to close at 8:30pm, according to Victor Ibañez, a restaurant employee.
“We only had a few customers by then and they were about finished,” Ibañez said.
Smith said that PG&E was able to keep up with power demands statewide on Wednesday, better than Monday when there were several outages, though none in Morgan Hill.
Temperatures are expected to continue their slight downward trend, easing demand on the power grid.
