By Megan Bagdonas
The Daily Breeze
MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. — Howling winds ripped electrical wires from their poles in Manhattan Beach, hitting two pedestrians and igniting a parked Mercedes-Benz, authorities said Monday.
Police and fire units responded to a call about 7 p.m. Sunday in the 1200 block of Morningside Drive, where heavy winds had knocked down palm fronds that, in turn, snapped a high-voltage line, according to Manhattan Beach Fire Battalion Chief Frank Chiella.
The power line stayed energized when it came into contact with a Mercedes-Benz parked in the downtown area.
"It was impossible to extinguish the fire fully until Edison arrived, and they arrived about an hour later," Chiella said.
While waiting for Edison workers to arrive, firefighters tried extinguishing 10-foot-high flames with water, but found that it just exacerbated the problem, Chiella said.
"Every time you hit it with water, the water and electricity would cause like a big white explosion and just made it worse," Chiella said.
When Edison workers arrived, they had to turn the power off at several switching stations because the live wire had such a high voltage, according to Chiella.
About 1,200 Edison customers were left without power until 6:30 a.m. Monday due to the incident, according to an Edison spokesman.
The beige 2006 Mercedes-Benz was destroyed.
"My car was burned so bad you couldn't even tell what kind of car it was," said owner Dalida Sanfrancisco, who was having a drink inside Fusion Sushi when she heard a loud pop and saw sparks on her car as if a firecracker had been set off.
"I couldn't touch my car because I didn't want to get electrocuted, but my whole life was in there," said Sanfrancisco, who was moving offices and had her business laptop, among other things, in the car. "But I'm glad I didn't touch my car because if I did, I would be dead."
Two pedestrians were also hit by downed lines on Manhattan Beach Boulevard, but neither was treated for injuries. Fortunately, in both circumstances the power lines were not live, Chiella said.
Wind velocity in the South Bay reached up to 37 mph on Sunday evening, according to Accuweather. Winds were most tumultuous from 6 to 9 p.m.
More than 155,000 Southern California Edison customers experienced outages on Sunday, said Edison spokesman Gil Alexander.
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