Friday afternoon power outage

A widespread power outage in Arcadia just before schools were letting out knocked out power and air conditioning on a scorching hot 106-degree day to the high school and other schools, Westfield Santa Anita mall (the movies stopped playing for patrons enjoying the cool theaters), Santa Anita Park race track, Methodist Hospital of Arcadia, City Hall, and most intersection lights along major corridors including many sections of Huntington Drive and Baldwin Avenue.

The power came back on a short while later to only a few locations, and later — about 3:45 — to other locations, but was still off well past 4:30 p.m. at some schools such as Dana Middle School, and other locations.

The Arcadia Fire Department reported about 4:30 that the fire was caused by a vegetation fire caused by a downed power line in a rear yard and in between two single family dwellings in the 1000 block of Greenfield Avenue east of Santa Anita Avenue. Firefighters received a call about the fire at 2:04 p.m. and extinguished the fire within ten minutes of arrival and requested Southern California Edison respond to the scene.

— By Scott Hettrick