Squirrels chew through power lines all the time. Now prepare for drones to do the same.
An unmanned aerial vehicle flew into power lines in West Hollywood on Monday afternoon, reports ABC7 Eyewitness News. The crash reportedly caused hundreds of residents to lose power.
Power out on Larrabee St north of Sunset in West Hollywood until approx 10pm after man flies drone into power lines pic.twitter.com/l1LlRutb5S
— Julie Sone (@ABC7JulieSone) October 26, 2015
The collision occurred near Sunset Boulevard and Larrabee Street in Los Angeles, just outside the offices of IAC/Inter Active Corp (IACI), owner of the online dating conglomerate Match Group, which recently filed to go public.
Robert Villegas, a spokesperson for Southern California Edison (SCEDP), a local power utility, told The Hollywood Reporter that the outages began at 1:15 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. He said they affected more than 100 customers.
The Viper Room, a local nightclub, posted on Facebook-owned (FB) Instagram that “apparently a drone was following a car or a reality show and hit the power line crossing Sunset at Larrabee. The line snapped in half and landed on this Mini [Cooper].”
“It buzzed for a few minute and poof! Smoke from under the hood,” the account’s administrator added.
The local sheriff’s department said it received multiple 911 calls about the incident, according to ABC7. Reports indicated that a man flew a drone into the electrical wires, the department told ABC7.
Power has since been restored to the area.
#WeHo update: power fully restored per @SCE after drone crashed into power lines pic.twitter.com/QvDFbsDY3V
— Julie Sone (@ABC7JulieSone) October 27, 2015
.@SCE says all power restored in #WeHo after drone flew into power lines. There were more than 700 customers without power. @stevengregory
— Steve Gregory (@stevengregory) October 27, 2015
Ironically, companies such as GE (GE) have begun using drones to monitor and maintain their power grids.
Subscribe to Data Sheet, Coins2Day’s daily newsletter on the business of technology and read “Drone Nation,” a feature story from the October, 27, 2014 issue of Coins2Day magazine. Also, see how even the NFL is looking to use drones in the video below.