Fire cuts power to peninsula A utility...

Fire cuts power

to peninsula

A utility pole fire caused by the rain left about 120 homes and

businesses on Balboa Peninsula without power Saturday night, said

Southern California Edison spokesman Gil Alexander.

At press time, the 120 customers affected between Balboa Boulevard

and West Ocean Front from 29th Street to 34th Street were still

without power. But Alexander said that Edison crews would continue

working until power was restored.

At about 5 p.m., Newport Beach fire officials responded to a call

of a burning pole near 32nd Street and Balboa Boulevard. The fire,

which burned from the inside out, caused an 8-foot portion of the

pole to break off at the top, said Newport Beach Fire Capt. Chip

Duncan.

Fire crews kept the entire pole, including a transformer, from

collapsing and put out the fire once Edison crews turned off the

power, Duncan said.

An insulator that kept water out of a piece of high-voltage

equipment is believed to have failed, heating the metal and setting

the wood it was in contact with on fire, Alexander said.

Pileup tangles Saturday traffic

The Costa Mesa Freeway turned into a parking lot for 30 minutes on

Saturday morning after emergency officials closed the northbound side

of the freeway to tend to a five-car pileup.

The California Highway Patrol closed all lanes at 9:58 a.m. A

white pick-up truck -- just one of the involved vehicles -- had

crashed into the median while a white Mercedes-Benz faced the

opposite direction after the pileup.

While there were no major injuries, traffic was backed up from the

Corona del Mar offramp to 19th Street, where the Costa Mesa Freeway

begins.

All those involved were able to walk away from the accident, a

Costa Mesa fire dispatch operator said, and those with minor injuries

were taken to Hoag Memorial Presbyterian Hospital.

Lanes were reopened by 10:30 a.m.