A man in his early 20s was in grave condition Saturday after being shocked with more than 33,000 volts when he tried to cut wiring at a Southern California Edison facility in San Bernardino, police said.
Police got a call after 2 a.m. that a transformer had blown at the Edison substation at Rialto Avenue and Stoddard Avenue, shutting down power initially to 14,000 homes and businesses in the city.
The caller told police that a man who possibly had been trying to steal wiring there was on fire.
When authorities arrived, they found a man in his 20s inside the fenced substation.
Police believe the man had been cutting wire and had been electrocuted, said San Bernardino Police Department Lt. Mike Madden, in a press release.
The man, who was not immediately identified, was taken to a hospital where his condition was listed as extremely grave.
Lois Pitter Bruce, a spokeswoman with Southern California Edison, said the man cut a hole in a fence at a substation, cutting power to homes and businesses for hours.
Local
Get Los Angeles's latest local news on crime, entertainment, weather, schools, COVID, cost of living and more. Here's your go-to source for today's LA news.
Crews worked Saturday morning to restore power to 625 homes and businesses that remained affected by the outage. After noon, power had been restored to all but six, Pitter Bruce said.
The man was not an Edison employee, Pitter Bruce said.
Follow NBCLA for the latest LA news, events and entertainment: iPhone/iPad App | Facebook | Twitter | Google+ | Instagram | RSS | Text Alerts | Email Alerts
