POWER OUTAGE SNARLS SCV; DEPUTIES, COURTS, DETENTION CENTER LEFT SCRAMBLING BY LOSS OF POWER.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

Sheriff's deputies directed traffic at blacked-out intersections, courthouse computer screens went blank and jailers counted heads at the Peter J. Pitchess Detention Center when a power outage hit Tuesday.

Under withering heat, intensified by furnacelike breezes, the Santa Clarita Valley experienced scattershot electrical failures on an August afternoon that saw temperatures soar into triple digits.

Several stoplights either lost power altogether or went into a flashing-red mode - particularly along San Fernando Road, from Circle J Ranch Road to the Antelope Valley Freeway, said Deputy Tim Hemphill of the Santa Clarita Valley sheriff's station.

``Evidently, the whole (Valencia) Industrial Center is completely without power,'' Hemphill said Tuesday afternoon.

Patrol deputies continued to answer calls for service, while traffic deputies put aside their radar guns and ticket books for the afternoon to handle traffic control at the affected intersections, Hemphill said.

``We had them cruising all the major intersections, looking for signal lights out,'' Hemphill said. ``We've tied up most of our traffic cars, and that has kept them from doing traffic enforcement.''

Power surges wreaked havoc with underground electrical vaults across the Santa Clarita Valley, said Battalion Chief Mike Sandeman of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

``We've had numerous electrical vault fires,'' Sandeman said.

In the first eight hours of their shift, firefighters in the Santa Clarita Valley's seven stations had been sent on 23 calls - about triple the usual amount, the chief said. ``We've had a number of elevator failures,'' Sandeman added.

At the Pitchess Detention Center, a backup power supply helped the sprawling complex - with its 8,465 inmates - function just fine despite power failure, said Lt. Rick Adams of the Los Angeles County sheriff's custody division.

``When the blackout hit, all of our emergency generators went on line,'' added Capt. Chuck Jackson of the North County Correctional Facility, the largest jail in the Pitchess compound.

The 3,465 maximum-security inmates at NCCF were scattered among dormitories, classrooms, exercise yards and libraries, but deputies gathered them all in the dorms for a head count, the captain said.

``We did a complete facility lockdown,'' Jackson said. ``We immediately did a wristband count of inmates. That way, we're insured that nobody got out of here during that brief moment. It only takes about 45 seconds for the emergency generators to power back on,'' he said.

The 1:50 p.m. power outage was caused by a small plane that clipped two high-voltage electrical transmission lines and then crashed a mile outside Hesperia, in San Bernardino County, said Glen Becerra, regional manager for Southern California Edison. Three people died in the crash.

The outage struck thousands of customers in the Santa Clarita, Antelope, Simi and Conejo valleys, Becerra said.

City spokeswoman Gail Ortiz said that 15,000 households in Santa Clarita were affected by the outage.

Capt. Greg Hisel explained why he was wearing a T-shirt and a long-sleeved shirt, along with his yellow turnout pants, on such a sweltering day.

The extra clothing protected his skin from the brush fire that he and personnel from Station 73 battled Monday afternoon, Hisel said. Firefighters at battalion headquarters, he added, made it a point to drink lots of water all day, to lessen the chances of dehydration in the event they were sent out in the heat.

Drinking sodas and coffee is actually counterproductive, Hisel said. ``You want to stay away from the caffeine,'' he said.