More than 250 homes and businesses near Santa Barbara’s downtown corridor are without electricity this morning, and Southern California Edison crews are working to identify the source of the problem.
Lights started flickering up and down and around State Street at around 10 a.m., affecting around 1,400 Edison customers, as city fire crews responded to reports of a transformer fire below City Lot 9 off Canon Perdido Street. No smoke or fire was discovered, however, and responders soon cleared the call as a “non-event.” One person became stuck in an elevator at the nearby Marshall’s department store, but they were quickly rescued.
While 762 locations were completely without power up until 11:30 a.m., Edison spokesperson Rondi Guthrie said that number has been cut to 264. The repairs crews hope to have all power restored by noon, she said.