Goats or Pay Raises... Well, we are just so close..

Gramps Says: The story below demonstrates that some day Grand Terrace's Days of Luck regarding fire may be up. We have abundant power lines over dry brush. Along the Freeway, and in Honey Hills. Should the winds bring down the power lines and start a fire, we will have a house to house burn. If all things work against us. Goats on Blue Mt. Protect the Citizens in Honey Hills and Reche Canyon from a possible Hellish Fire Storm.

The Freeway Slope the hillside descending to Colton should also be goat maintained. Just because it hasn't happened yet does not mean we should not prepare and prevent a hazard we know we live with daily and in extremes during drought and winds at a higher level. Perhaps even rethinking the Fireworks Issue should be revisited. Notice the Sports Teams have made NO Effort to raise funds other than Fireworks so far this year. In addition the justification that they can only involve the children in ONE Fund Raiser and Fireworks Works is FICTION, Children are not allowed to sell Fireworks.

One would hope the Governor would see the need to eliminate fireworks as a unreasonable risk for the entire state. That way the City Council would be relived of having to do what may be a difficult but right decision. It is time concerned citizens write the Governor to ban all fireworks, and promote safety and precaution. This is a Security Issue. In the Past Month we have seen fires, in Freeway Tunnels, and On the Land, cause economic impact and transportation interruptions. We do not need to add to the mess by our "Entertainment".

Power lines snap, fall
By Melissa Pinion-Whitt, Staff Writer
http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_7294516

COLTON - Snapped 115,000-volt power lines dropped onto the 215 Freeway and a gas station Friday morning, knocking out electricity to about 320,000 residents and businesses, including the entire city of Riverside.

A fireball burst from a line that fell at the Iowa Avenue Shell station near the 215 Freeway, sending customers running for safety, witnesses said.

"The two wires hit the store and one hit a car," said Abdul Gafor, station manager. "The (driver) got so scared he took off."

One customer getting coffee inside the store ran over to a nearby Jack in the Box, afraid that the combination of high voltage and gasoline would be disastrous.

Southern California Edison officials were investigating what caused the lines, both in Colton and at the Vista substation in Grand Terrace, to snap.

About 20,000 SCE customers in Moreno Valley and Riverside were affected by the outage, but Steve Conroy, SCE spokesman, said the outages stretched along the 215 as far as San Bernardino. Most customers in SCE's service area had power restored by about 8 a.m.

Riverside, which provides its own power, remained in the dark until 11:15 a.m., said Tom DeSantis, assistant city manager. The city has about 300,000 residents.
SCE's transmission grid cut the city's power grid when the lines snapped, DeSantis said.

The city opened its Emergency Operations Center and had employees stay longer to handle any problems. But other than an increase in traffic accidents at intersections with dark traffic signals, DeSantis said there were no major problems that he had heard of. Out of the city's 360 traffic signals, 150 have battery backup power.

The downed power lines did create a problem for 215 Freeway commuters, who found themselves weaving through Grand Terrace and Riverside after the California Highway Patrol shut down both sides of the freeway.

About a 10-mile stretch of the 215 Freeway was closed while SCE, Colton firefighters and police came to the scene. Traffic on both sides of the closure backed up several miles, Caltrans officials said. A couple of small brush fires ignited along the freeway from the downed power lines. The freeway was reopened at 8:22 a.m.

Staff writer Jeff Malet contributed to this story.

melissa.pinion-whitt@sbsun.com