Lightening Strike Causes Power Outage in Areas of Big Bear Valley

Big Bear Valley, CA, July 15, 2010, 6:00 pm – As of approximately 4:23pm Thursday, a lightening strike caused a loss of power to areas in the Big Bear Valley including Fawnskin, North Shore, the Interlaken Shopping Center, areas of Big Bear City and Big Bear Lake as well as portions of the Fox Farm area.  According to John Dytesten of Bear Valley Electric, crews had to physically inspect each line to determine the cause of the outage then begin the process of restoring power.  As of 5:43pm, power should be restored to all outage areas of the valley.   Bear Valley Electric was able to act quickly as they received information from an eyewitness who saw a lightening strike in the area of Union Bank and CVS Pharmacy.  Lightening only needs to hit in close proximity to a line to cause a power outage.  The outage was wide spread in the Valley as this strike took out the transmission line that effects multiple substations throughout Big Bear taking them off line as well.  Again, power should now be restored in the Valley.