American electricity company Southern California Edison has launched a safety campaign intended to help prevent power outages caused by metallic balloons.
Downed power lines are potentially the biggest safety hazard resulting from metallic balloons making contact with electrical equipment. SCE’s new “Stay Alert. Stay Safe.” campaign reminds customers to stay away and call 911 if they ever come across downed lines.
The campaign also supports the new state law that went into effect on 1 January 2019 requiring that metallic balloons made by in-state manufacturers carry a printed warning about the risks of releasing them.
June is a peak month for outages caused by foil balloons in Southern California, primarily because of the number of graduation celebrations and SCE experiences more metallic balloon outages than in any other month. This peaked with last June’s all-time high, when the company dealth with 206 balloon-based outages, a fair chunk of the 1,128 outages which were recorded last year.
“That’s almost seven outages a day,” said Andrew Martinez, SCE’s vice president of safety, security and business resiliency. “To prevent these outages this month and all year, metallic balloons should never be released outdoors and should always be tied to a weight as required by state law. When released into the sky, they are a threat not only to safety but to keeping the lights on.”
