Fire dept. on hand to free those trapped in Civic Center elevators
A construction crew working at an Ocean Avenue hotel allegedly cut a power line Monday, cutting off electricity to more than 2,000 people throughout the city for about two hours.
At about 10:30 a.m., power went out at City Hall and the county courthouse, trapping three people in elevators there. Two people were trapped in the elevator at the courthouse and a city employee was stuck in an elevator at City Hall. Nearby Santa Monica Fire Department fire fighters were able to open the elevators and free those trapped inside within 10 to 15 minutes, officials said. The fire department was outside of City Hall when the power went out because a two-inch wide high pressure gas line was accidentally severed at 10:15 a.m. Monday by a worker using a backhoe on the new public safety building construction site.
“It was kind of a fluke... that we were already out here when the power went out,” said fire department spokeswoman Jill Barnes.
About 2,200 residents and businesses north of Pico Boulevard, between Lincoln Boulevard and Ocean Avenue were effected, a Southern California Edison official said.
Gas company officials were able to shut the gas leak off by 12:17 p.m.
Power was restored to most of the grid about 15 minutes later.
While City Hall was able to continue operating because of back-up emergency generators, the courthouse had to be evacuated and the jail went into lock down mode.
Courthouse officials, who also had emergency generators running, evacuated the building, concerned that people might hurt themselves.
“Even with emergency lights, the building gets pretty dark,” said Superior Court Judge Alan Haber, who oversees all of the courthouses on the westside. “And there are plenty of things for people to bump in to and trip on, so for their safety we have asked everyone to wait outside until power can be restored.”
Hundreds of people, ranging from lawyers and jurors to judges and courthouse employees, milled about outside the courthouse’s front doors waiting to get back into the building.
Some took the time to finish up some last minute work on their laptops and make calls to the office on their cell phones, while others took the time to read the paper or lie in the grass and soak up the sun.
“It can be very costly when our operations are suspended like this,” Haber said.
When power was not restored by 11:30 a.m., Haber called a courthouse-wide recess until 1:30 p.m. The recess was called to avoid long lines of people waiting to be cleared by security before re-entering the building, he said.
But with very little marine layer blocking the sun, many didn’t mind the interruption to their work day.
“If it had to happen,” said fire chief Ettore A. Berardinelli, “then you couldn’t have asked for a better day for it.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 10, 2002. Read the original PDF.