Blackout

Outages affect nearly 1,700 residents An outage on Saturday night and another Tuesday morning left nearly 1,700 Glendale residents without power for up to four hours, a Glendale Water and Power official said. The Saturday blackout, which occurred at 9:21 p.m., when a cable failed between the Fremont substation and an underground vault, affected 1,055 residents in an area south of Patterson Avenue, north of Milford Street, east to Columbus Avenue and west to San Fernando Road, said Ramon Abueg, electrical services administrator for Glendale Water and Power.

Claudia Peschiutta GLENDALE -- It was a time when sirens could split a quiet Glendale night and have families running to lower the heavy blackout curtains on their windows. But for a young Ellen Perry, now 66, growing up in the city during the 1940s, the dangers of World War II seemed far away and the air raid drills could leave her and her twin sisters giggling. "We were little kids and we thought it was funny," she said. "My mother would hit us on the head like you don't know and tell us this is serious business."

From Staff Reports A blackout in La Canada Flintridge: The members of the Flintridge Prep girls' soccer team must have looked across the field Wednesday night on more than one occasion and wondered if they were playing Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy. The Tologs couldn't be blamed if they were on the wrong end of a case of mistaken identity. That's because for the first time in co-Coach Kathy Desmond's 10-year tenure, her players took the field in something other than their traditional red and white uniforms.

A special thanks for that family atmosphere Sunday is our family day partly by design and partly by necessity. It's the only day of the week my husband, kids and I aren't under the gun. We could spend it at the beach, or hiking in the local foothills or (God forbid) shopping at the Glendale Galleria. More often than not, however, you will find us in Montrose. Now just hang on for a second before you send the men in white suits to cart us off to the nut hatchery.

DOWNTOWN — A year after closing its doors amid a controversial stay in Burbank, the regional homeless shelter moved back to the National Guard Armory in Glendale, where despite seeing a 74% rise in the number of clients, operators reported a smooth winter season. The 150-capacity refuge in the 200 block of East Colorado Street served 958 homeless people between Dec. 1 and March 2, up from 549 in 2008-09. The typical nightly average of about 100 occupants skyrocketed to roughly 165, officials said.

GLENDALE — A clear morning sky may make for a bright start to the day, but it also foretells a grim summer reality: It’s going to be a scorcher. After a relatively mild season so far, temperatures are expected to climb to their highest of the summer today, with triple-digit heat, meteorologists said. Cooler temperatures are expected Wednesday. Temperatures reached 97 degrees Monday, making it the hottest day of the year, said Bob Gregg, Glendale resident and amateur climatologist.

CITY HALL — Power officials will ask for a combined $650,000 to revamp two electrical generators as they continue to update the city’s aging Grayson Power Plant. The projects follow a $2-million overhaul of a steam turbine-generator at the power plant that was approved in October after it accumulated nearly twice the recommended operating hours. While Glendale typically imports about 75% of its power, the two units up for revamps at the Grayson plant are known as a “peaker” units — which largely serve as backups in the event of any regional interruption in the supply, said Ned Bassin, power management administrator at Glendale Water & Power.

BURBANK — A two-month Writers Guild of America strike, which has severely altered the entertainment landscape and dented the local economy, could be over by next week, sources said Monday. Over the weekend, rumors swirled that the writers guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers were close to a deal. Neither side commented, preferring to abide by the press blackout during the informal meetings, but sources familiar with the negotiations said that progress was made and a resolution could be completed by Feb. 15. “The consensus is that all the major roadblocks are out of the way,” said Gary Olson, president of the Burbank Chamber of Commerce.

GLENDALE — A crow flew into high-tension power lines Wednesday, shorting out power to an estimated 13,000 Glendale Water and Power customers for about 45 minutes, followed by another outage that affected 1,300 customers, officials said. Glendale Water and Power customers started reporting the initial outage at about 3:30 p.m. and by 4:15 p.m. the power was back on to most customers, city spokeswoman Vicki Gardner said. The outage generally affected customers north of Glendale Community College, who are supplied by the Glorietta, Montrose and New York avenue substations, Gardner said.