Cause of Downed Power Lines on 405 Still Under Investigation

Southern California Edison is still trying to determine why power lines fell Thursday on the 405 near Magnolia Street in Fountain Valley.

Edison spokesman Darryl Ryan said Friday that crews were investigating the cause of the incident, which blocked portions of the freeway for about two hours Thursday afternoon -- and knocked out power for about 2,500 Fountain Valley homes and businesses.

Electrical service wasn't fully restored until about 3:15 a.m. Friday, Ryan said. The blackout also affected traffic signals at two major intersections in Fountain Valley, but police reported no accidents.

Ryan couldn't confirm whether any work was being done in the area before the lines went down, but SCE's outage map indicated Thursday that a planned outage had been scheduled nearby. And Officer Gabe Montoya of the California Highway Patrol said Edison crews reached the scene surprisingly fast.

"Normally when we have downed power lines, it takes them at least an hour to get a crew out," Montoya said. "Their response time yesterday was about 15 minutes. They were around."