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Dallas Raines Knows weather and during the 4 0’Clock newscast on Friday the award-winning meteorologist for ABC7 announced that South Pasadena had experienced its hottest day on record.
It was a sizzling 118 degrees in the city, according to Raines, and as Kevin Hill, an engineer with the South Pasadena Fire Department, declared: “It’s hot.”
Yes, indeed, it was scorching outside, not only in the city but throughout Southern California where there were excessive heat warnings. The record-breaking heat wave is expected to be around for at least the next two days, with temperatures climbing in triple digits in many areas.
The valleys and Inland Empire will see a high of 117 in some areas, increasing the concerns for fires. Beach cities will also be hot, hitting a high of 90. Locally, South Pasadena Fire Department officials are keeping plenty busy. “We’ve reported to numerous reports of wires down and line fires as a result of the excessive heat in our city,” said SPPD Captain Daniel Dunn. “All fires have been controlled with no damage to structures.”
A line fire is “when a power line is on fire while it’s on the ground,” explained Dunn. “The insulation that surrounds the wire is on fire.” That was the situation when fire officials responded to a call on Prospect Avenue at about 12:15 p.m. on Friday. Later in the day, a power line fell to the ground on Marengo Avenue, knocking out power to about four homes.
Alarms have gone off a couple of times at South Pasadena High School in the 1400 block of Fremont Avenue but there have been no reports of a fire.
Including medical calls and downed power lines, Dunn said South Pasadena Fire Department officials have responded to about a dozen incidents on Friday.
“We’re just swamped, going non-stop,” said the SPPD captain, explaining that a wire on prospect has come down three times in the past three weeks “because it overloads and just burns. We were unable to put it out one time for about 30 minutes because it kept flashing and exploding. (Southern California) Edison came, de-energized it and we were able to extinguish the fire.”
