Power rerouted to thousands after man climbs transmission tower
By THE BAKERSFIELD CALIFORNIAN
Thousands of PG&E customers in Bakersfield were without power Sunday evening after a man climbed a 200-foot-high transmission tower and threatened to jump, forcing the utility to de-energize power lines for safety reasons.
The Kern County Sheriff's Department received the report at about 4 p.m. and had the man's sister come to the tower at Jewetta Avenue and Dee Dee Court off Rosedale Highway, Lt. Steve Hansen said. The sister convinced the man by cell phone to come down, Hansen said.
Related Photos
A man who threatened to jump from a transmission tower off of Jewetta Avenue near Rosedale Highway waits for emergency personnel riding in a PG&;E cherry picker to get him off the tower. The transmission lines carry 230,000 volts of electricity. He was taken to Kern Medical Center to be evaluated.
A man who threatened to jump from a transmission tower off of Jewetta Avenue near Rosedale Highway and a Kern County fireman ride in a PG&E cherry picker to get the man off the tower. The man was safely brought down from the tower and taken to Kern Medical Center to be evaluated. A PG&E employee who assisted climbs off the tower.
PG&E brought a bucket truck from Buttonwillow to get the man down at about 7 p.m., the lieutenant said. The man was taken to Kern Medical Center for an evaluation, Hansen said.
"This is the first time in 28 years that I have seen something like this in my career," Hansen said.
PG&E was notified at about 4:27 p.m. that someone had climbed the transmission tower, said Jana Morris, a PG&E spokeswoman.
De-energizing initially impacted 25,000 customers. It was the Bakersfield Substation that had to be de-energized because of the person on the tower, Morris said.
Some customers initially lost power at about 5:30 p.m. Then at about 6 p.m., power was restored to about 13,000 customers. At about 6:20 p.m., PG&E had rerouted power to all impacted customers.
Then, about 7 p.m., the utility started re-energizing customers through their traditional power routes, Morris said. That process can take some time, she said.
Most CommentedMost Popular
Since Karen Goh returned to Kern County from a publishing career in New York in 2004, she has helped foster a strong network of Christian leaders in government, politics, media, business and nonprofits.
California voters approved Proposition 215 in 1996, giving "seriously ill Californians ... the right to obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes" as recommended by a physician.
Kern County has agreed to pay a Kern River Valley family $1 million for wrongfully taking their son in 2008 when the family was in a dispute with the South Fork Union School District over how school officials were dealing with the boy's food allergies.
Is Kern County, as has widely been reported, really the expulsion capital of California? That's the question posed Friday by state Sen. Michael Rubio, D-Shafter, to 50 or so Kern County educators, elementary and high school district administrators and community leaders.
Since Karen Goh returned to Kern County from a publishing career in New York in 2004, she has helped foster a strong network of Christian leaders in government, politics, media, business and nonprofits.
Kern County has agreed to pay a Kern River Valley family $1 million for wrongfully taking their son in 2008 when the family was in a dispute with the South Fork Union School District over how school officials were dealing with the boy's food allergies.
Young's Marketplace, an independent grocery store that's a Bakersfield institution, will close at the end of the week.
Bakersfield’s Faast Pharmacy is going out of business and will be acquired by the big chain CVS, it was confirmed Monday.