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Valentine's Day Balloon Knocks Out Power In Concord

CONCORD (BCN) - A stray Valentine's Day balloon drifted into power lines in Concord Monday morning, causing an outage that affected 1,775 customers, a PG&E spokeswoman said.

The Mylar balloon hit the power lines at 8:15 a.m., knocking down one wire, PG&E spokeswoman Nicole Liebelt said.

The area affected by the outage included Harrison, Salvio, Sutter and Grant streets, she said.

Crews were able to quickly restore power to nearly 1,000 customers, and as of about 9:45 a.m., only 16 customers remained without power, Liebelt said.

Liebelt said Mylar balloons are a common cause of power outages.

"Because they are metallic, when they make contact with our lines they disrupt electrical service," she said. "It's a dangerous thing and folks don't really think about it."

Power lines may be the last things on love-struck couples' minds Monday, but Liebelt urged those buying Valentine's Day balloons to keep safety in mind.

"We do encourage folks that purchase Mylar balloons to keep them weighted down so they don't fly away," she said.

If a balloon does get stuck in power lines, people should not try to retrieve it on their own, she said.

(© 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)

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