Tree down on power line closes Azalea Drive in PMC

PINE MOUNTAIN (Saturday, March 1, 2014)—Residents of Azalea Drive in the Pine Mountain community lost power at 2:47 p.m. on Saturday. Power was out for about 3.5 hours, according to a resident,who estimated that power returned at 6:30 p.m. Fifteen minutes after electricity came back on, power lines and a tree came down across the road, the resident said.

Kern County Fire Captain Kris Kirksey of Station 58 said the tree was engulfed in flames,

Kirksey told The Mountain Enterprise, “It isn’t clear whether the tree brought down the power lines with the pole or something first happened with the lines on the pole maybe causing a fire and bringing down the tree. But when we arrived the tree was down on the road and the power lines were arcing underneath it.”

Firefighters contacted residents of the area. Residents in three homes in the 1200 block of Azalea Drive were told to shelter in place, Kirksey reported.

This is part of the February 28, 2014 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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