By Katherine Quezada and Lucas Nava
Signal Staff Writers
A solo vehicle hit-and-run crash caused a power outage affecting 2,429 residents in the Saugus area in the midst of Fourth of July festivities on Friday night, according to officials.
The California Highway Patrol and Los Angeles County Fire Department responded to a traffic collision involving a pole near San Francisquito Canyon Road north of Copper Hill Drive, said CHP Newhall Public Information Officer Carlos Burgos-Lopez, during a phone interview with The Signal on Saturday.
CHP officers were dispatched at 9:16 p.m. and found a gray, four door Volvo sedan with major damage next to a Southern California Edison telephone pole that was damaged in the crash, Burgos-Lopez said.
A driver was not located at the scene of the incident, he added, and it is unknown if any injuries were sustained in the crash.
According to Capt. David Dantic, a spokesman with the L.A. County Fire Department, no patients were treated at the scene, and the call was cleared at 9:30 p.m., he said during initial reports.
The crash resulted in a widespread power outage for Saugus residents, where a total of 2,429 costumers had no electricity, according to SCE spokesman Brian Leventhal. Power was restored at 10:30 p.m.
Although power was restored in approximately an hour, CHP officers with the assistance of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station were on standby for traffic control and safety precaution as the affected pole posed an immediate hazard, according to Burgos-Lopez.
It is unknown if driving under the influence, or speed were a factor in the crash.
CHP officers ran the vehicle’s license plate, which was registered to an address in Palmdale, he added, and when law enforcement went to the location on file to investigate the crash further, no one could be located.
The CHP closed the incident at 1:45 a.m., after SCE officials repaired the damaged pole, Carlos-Burgos added, and no arrests were made.
