LADWP: Power restored to 29,000 customers in Pacific Palisades, Westwood & West LA

About 29,000 Department of Water and Power customers in the Pacific Palisades, Westwood and West Los Angeles areas were left without power for about two hours this afternoon -- and scores of drivers were
stuck in gridlocked traffic -- after a circuit breaker failed and caused a small fire at a DWP receiving station.

The equipment failed at 1:37 p.m. and a portion of the receiving station that services the affected areas was de-energized about 10 minutes later, according to DWP spokeswoman Ellen Cheng.

Firefighters responded at 2:27 p.m. to a report of an explosion in a DWP yard in the 1800 block of Centinela Avenue, according to Margaret Stewart of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

A circuit breaker had caused a small fire that was already out by the time firefighters arrived, Stewart said.

"Two power distributing station serving local areas were impacted and are currently out of service, affecting the areas of Westwood and the Pacific Palisades the most," according to a DWP statement.

The outage caused traffic lights to malfunction, triggering massive backups at some major intersections.

The DWP announced at 3:38 p.m. that service had been restored all affected customers.

Statement from LADWP:

A fire at LADWP Power System Receiving Station K in West LA caused more than 27,000 customers on the Westside to lose power at approximately 2 p.m. today. Two power distributing stations serving local areas were impacted and are currently out of service, affecting t he areas of Westwood and the Pacific Palisades the most . LADWP called the LA Fire Department to the scene and the fire was extinguished soon thereafter. LAFD has since left the scene and LADWP crews are inspecting equipment, assessing damage and working to restore power to the affected customers as quickly as possible.

We will determine an estimated time of restoration as soon as we assess the extent of damages and will update further as the situation develops. We appreciate your patience at this time.

For the latest information, follow us on Twitter @LADWP, see www.ladwpnews.com or call 1-800-DIAL-DWP.