coldfront
12-26-2008, 02:30 PM
Trapped By 300,000 Volts; Couple Lucky To Be Alive
Wednesday, December 24, 2008 – updated: 10:16 am PST December 24, 2008
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Jim and Janice Brewer have a little something extra to be thankful for this Christmas – their very lives.
On Tuesday night, the Brewers were headed home from Janice’s office when they noticed a brushfire on the side of the road on Highway 101 between Moffett Boulevard and Highway 85 in Mountain View. Then there was a loud bang.
“We were going southbound on 101 and we see the flames off to the side,” Jim Brewer told KTVU. “It looks like a fireworks show coming up from the ground… Janice says call 911 so I’m on my cell phone … traffic is slowing down and all of a sudden – ‘boom, there’s this huge pop.’”
“Next thing I know we are going sideways and I thought we’d been hit by another car…There was a jerk back… And then at some point we were hooked up to the 300,000-volt power line…It was almost like an explosion when the cable hit the car.”
Firefighters came running up to the car and told the Brewers to stay inside.
“He said – ‘don’t even move, don’t even think about it,’” Jim Brewer said of being warned to stay in the car.
The Brewers were trapped in their car for nearly two hours while firefighters put out the brushfire and electrical crews took care the of the downed power line.
California Highway Patrol officer Aaron Quistad said the fire was reported around 8:06 p.m. Tuesday followed by information that a power line was down.
A Sig-alert issued at 8:19 p.m., halting traffic on the busy highway, and was canceled at 10:41 p.m. when the roadway was reopened.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008 – updated: 10:16 am PST December 24, 2008
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Jim and Janice Brewer have a little something extra to be thankful for this Christmas – their very lives.
On Tuesday night, the Brewers were headed home from Janice’s office when they noticed a brushfire on the side of the road on Highway 101 between Moffett Boulevard and Highway 85 in Mountain View. Then there was a loud bang.
“We were going southbound on 101 and we see the flames off to the side,” Jim Brewer told KTVU. “It looks like a fireworks show coming up from the ground… Janice says call 911 so I’m on my cell phone … traffic is slowing down and all of a sudden – ‘boom, there’s this huge pop.’”
“Next thing I know we are going sideways and I thought we’d been hit by another car…There was a jerk back… And then at some point we were hooked up to the 300,000-volt power line…It was almost like an explosion when the cable hit the car.”
Firefighters came running up to the car and told the Brewers to stay inside.
“He said – ‘don’t even move, don’t even think about it,’” Jim Brewer said of being warned to stay in the car.
The Brewers were trapped in their car for nearly two hours while firefighters put out the brushfire and electrical crews took care the of the downed power line.
California Highway Patrol officer Aaron Quistad said the fire was reported around 8:06 p.m. Tuesday followed by information that a power line was down.
A Sig-alert issued at 8:19 p.m., halting traffic on the busy highway, and was canceled at 10:41 p.m. when the roadway was reopened.