Human Error Blamed for Los Angeles Outages: Environmental Impacts From Refineries

Human Error Blamed for Los Angeles Outages: Environmental Impacts From Refineries

June 21st, 2008 | Climate Change, Electricity, Environmental, Heat Waves, news

DWP: Human Error Led To Widespread Outage
Outages Extend From San Fernando Valley To Downtown
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Department of Water and Power officials said an outage Monday afternoon was linked to human error at a receiving station.  Ron Deaton, general manager of the Department of Water and Power, said workers accidentally cut a line at a DWP receiving station, then connected it to another line “that was not expecting that amount of electicity.”

Deaton said the system is designed to shut down when it receives too much power.  Power officials reported outages from the San Fernando Valley to downtown Los Angeles. Receiving stations take high-voltage power from generating stations and convert it to lower voltage. It can then be used throughout the city.  Power to DWP customers went out at about 1 p.m.

The cable was rewired, according to authorities, and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said power was restored to 90 percent of Los Angeles customers within two hours of the outage.

Power was restored to all areas by Monday night.  Traffic lights, including ramp meters, were affected by the outages. Police reported several minor traffic incidents. About 1,500 of the city’s more than 4,500 lights had to be manually reset.

“It was completely dark — we had no air conditioning.”  - Sue Morris, woman trapped in elevator  At several schools without power, students were kept in classrooms.

Sporadic outages occurred in downtown Los Angeles. Authorities said some people were trapped in elevators in the downtown area.  “It was completely dark — we had no air conditioning,” said Sue Morris, who was trapped in an elevator for 45 minutes.

Los Angeles International Airport lost power, but an emergency generator was triggered. No flights were affected. UCLA Medical Center used backup generators and reported no danger to patients.

The outage also affected Burbank, which is part of a system separate from surrounding communities.  Emergency services were operating, according to authorities. The police department went on “full tactical alert,” meaning officers remained on duty past their scheduled shifts.

Several Refineries Burn Off Gas Due To Outage

South Bay residents were advised to stay indoors Monday as several refineries in the area burned off gas to relieve extra pressure that built up during a power outage, city fire officials said.

Two employees at the Conoco-Phillips refinery in Wilmington were hospitalized after a backup occurred in a smokestack during the burn-off, according to fire officials.

An automatic community alert network was activated in the area because of the burn-offs, advising residents to stay indoors, said Jim Wells, of the city Fire Department. The system automatically dials residents and urges them to remain inside as a precaution against any possible airborne health threat caused by the refinery burnoff.

Firefighters were called to the Conoco-Phillips refinery at 1660 W. Anaheim St. at 2:15 p.m., said Ron Myers, of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Two employees of the refinery were taken to a hospital with respiratory complaints. They were listed in stable condition.  Myers said refineries use power to relieve pressure inside the cracking tower, but when the power goes out, they use the smokestacks to relieve the extra pressure, Myers said.

Two other refineries also flared gas out of their smokestacks when the power went out, but only the Conoco-Phillips refinery had a prob