Late Monday morning, emergency crews responded to multiple emergency calls after a construction mishap at Lincoln Middle School set of a chain reaction of electrical problems throughout the north end of the city, according to Santa Monica officials.
Construction crews excavating the sports field at Lincoln Middle School “dug into buried high-voltage electrical lines,” according to a press release issued Tuesday morning by the Santa Monica Fire Department, causing a series of other problems throughout the area, including a structure fire at 1501 California Avenue and at least two cases of downed wires along Montana Avenue.
“Lincoln Middle School faculty safely sheltered all 1,064 students and ended school early at 1:30 p.m. Southern California Edison (SCE) responded quickly to isolate power and render safe all of the effective areas,” Fire Department officials said. “SCE crews worked for several hours to restore power to the affected areas. Despite potential, there were no injuries or severe damage reported.”
According to officials, over the course of 90 minutes, both the fire department and the police responded to nearly 20 reported incidents. At least two incidents of people getting stuck in elevators were reported.
In an unrelated incident later that day, the Santa Monica Pier was evacuated after reports of a suspicious vehicle in the area led to a bomb scare. The Pier later reopened after L.A. County Sheriffs working with Santa Monica public safety determined there was no threat.
