News Summary

A significant power outage impacted around 17,000 customers in San Bernardino, California, leading to the closure of 14 schools in the San Bernardino City Unified School District. The outage began when a locomotive struck equipment early in the morning, but power was restored by noon. The closure of schools was a precaution due to the heat and concerns over student safety. Traffic disruptions also occurred as stoplights were out, but essential services at St. Bernardine Medical Center continued without interruption. Parents were notified to pick up their children promptly.

San Bernardino

A widespread power outage affected approximately 17,000 customers in San Bernardino, California, on Tuesday morning, leading to the closure of 14 schools in the San Bernardino City Unified School District. The disruption was reported at around 5 a.m. when a locomotive struck grid equipment.

According to Southern California Edison spokesperson Jeff Monford, service was fully restored by noon on the same day. The incident occurred when an Edison transmission line fell onto a BNSF locomotive in the rail yard located on 4th Street. Fortunately, there were no reported injuries from the incident.

As a precaution due to the outage and the rising temperatures, the San Bernardino City Unified School District decided to close the affected schools for the day. The schools that were closed include Chávez, Salinas, Shandin Hills, Kendall Complex, Holcomb, Hillside, North Park, Cajon High School, Palm, Vermont, North Verdemont, Kimbark, Newmark, and Muscoy.

The forecast for the day showed temperatures reaching the high 90s and approaching triple digits, raising concerns for student safety, particularly as many classrooms lacked proper ventilation. Although most of the campuses remained operational during the outage, the decision to close schools was made in the interest of student well-being.

In addition to the school closures, the outage affected traffic in the area, with stoplights not functioning in northern San Bernardino. This posed additional challenges for drivers and raised concerns about road safety as traffic patterns were disrupted.

Despite the outage, operations at St. Bernardine Medical Center continued as normal, ensuring that healthcare services remained available to the community. The timely restoration of power minimized the disruption to essential services in the area.

This outage also marked the second day in a row that schools in the county experienced power disruptions. Previously, the Bear Valley Unified School District had to cancel classes the day before due to a similar issue.

According to Edison’s outage website, five separate outages were reported in San Bernardino County, all logged at approximately 5:08 a.m. This time discrepancy has led to speculation about a potential data entry error by the utility provider.

Parents of students attending the affected schools were notified of the closures and were encouraged to pick up their children as soon as possible. Classes at the impacted schools are expected to resume on Wednesday, ensuring that students can return to their educational routines without prolonged interruptions.

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Additional Resources

• ABC7 News
• Wikipedia: San Bernardino, California
• San Bernardino Sun
• Google Search: San Bernardino power outage
• NBC Los Angeles
• Encyclopedia Britannica: San Bernardino
• Spectrum News 1
• Google News: San Bernardino school closures
• KTLA News

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