Valentine's Day Balloon Causes Power Outage in Concord

And the culprit was a Valentine's Day balloon.

The errant mylar balloon ran into power lines, downing one and causing a blackout that initially affected 1,775 customers.

Power has been restored to most of them, says PG&E spokesperson Nicole Liebelt.

The outage began at about 8:15 a.m.

The area affected by the outage includes Sutter Street and Grant Street. The downed lines are in the area of Sinclair Ave. and First, behind the Terminal Shopping Center on Clayton Road.

Liebelt says that mylar balloons are not an uncommon cause of 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 today, 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."