After a Petaluma man cut power to a large number of eastside residents by crashing his truck into a utility pole early Friday, many residents and local businesses reported small electrical fires, smoke wafting out of electrical outlets and one resident even reported its electric meter exploding off of their house.
Petaluma Fire Battalion Chief Jeff Holden said that the issues began shortly after the car crash occurred at approximately 1:45 a.m. Friday morning.
"We've had issues all night and we expect the calls to continue for some time," Holden said. "We've had spikes in power, power surges and two reports of problems with power meters."
Holden couldn't provide additional details on any reported incidents, since most of the department was still out on calls Friday morning.
The crash happened just before 2 a.m. Friday morning on Adobe Road near Manor Lane. According to investigators, 23-year-old Antone Elias Brazil of Petaluma drove a Ford F-150 truck into a utility pole, severing the power pole and downing power lines. Officials said the the downed lines ignited a small grass fire across from the Petaluma Adobe. Brazil, uninjured during the crash, was arrested and booked into Sonoma County Jail on suspicion of DUI. Brazil is being held on $50,000 bail.
The incident closed Adobe Road from Casa Grande Road to East Washington Street for more than an hour and left thousands of PG&E customers without power Friday morning.
At 11:30 a.m, PG&E spokesperson Brittany McKannay said that about 30 customers were still without power. McKannay estimated that power would be restored completely by about 3 p.m.
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