SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Two separate incidents that were miles apart saw two people rescued after they climbed up two different electrical towers.
One of those instances caused a power outage for thousands of people in Stockton, and the other resulted in a major traffic jam.
In South Sacramento, a woman ended up being stuck after climbing an electrical tower at the intersection of Stockton Boulevard and Mack Road. Firefighters with the Sacramento Fire Department worked in the heat to safely bring her down.
Captain Andrew Phillip Ramos, with Sacramento Fire, said the woman was on the top arm of the tower and, at one point, moved close to high transition lines. Crews tried talking to her to help get her down, but according to Capt Ramos, they had a difficult time getting to her because of where she was located.
"She's very scared, she's unsure of what's going on around her, she's hungry, she's tired, she's confused and so we're trying to talk her down off the ledge," Captain Ramos said, describing situation at the time to ABC10.
The team worked with PG&E, and the county sheriff's office to get her out of the situation.
ABC10 reached out to PG&E who provided the following statement.
- The safety of our customers, employees, contractors, and the communities we serve is PG&E’s top priority.
- This morning PG&E was notified by a SMUD representative in the area that a member of the public had climbed a transmission tower.
- For the safety of the individual and responders, PG&E de-energized the electric line at the request of Sacramento City Fire Department at 0926 hours.
- There are no customer outages as a result of this incident.
- PG&E crews worked with first responders to safely remove the individual.
Almost 40-plus miles to the south in Stockton, another person climbed a transmission tower around 4 a.m. The incident caused a power outage to more than 17,000 customers. That power has since been restored.
ABC10 also reached out to the Stockton Fire Department. The inquiry was not immediately returned, but officials said they don't believe the two climbers have any connection to each other.
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